


home we’ll go (we’re burning bright)

by fallingintodivinity



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Case Fic, First Kiss, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining, Sibling Incest, Slow Burn, Twincest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-01-31 08:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12677994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingintodivinity/pseuds/fallingintodivinity
Summary: Theseus Scamander has his hands full, what with cleaning up the mess Grindelwald has made of the Wizarding world, trying to stop Grindelwald’s remaining followers from carrying out more attacks on Muggles, and hiding the fact that he’s in love with his twin brother, Newt, from said twin.And now, Newt’s gone running off to conduct his own investigation into a gang of poachers, and Theseus has somehow gotten himself involved inthat, too...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [［授翻］［thesewt］home we'll go (we're burning bright)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17574848) by [Yiduoshazi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yiduoshazi/pseuds/Yiduoshazi)



> Set post-movie.  
> Theseus and Newt are twins in this story, so it will be non-canon-compliant as of _Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald_.
> 
> Please note that this story contains **sibling incest** between two consenting adults.

  

Theseus Scamander groaned, running a hand through his hair and sending his red curls sticking up every which way. Picking up his quill, he signed the parchment in front of him and pushed it aside. He glanced out his office window longingly at the well-manicured lawn outside the Ministry of Magic building, lush and inviting in the bright afternoon sunlight, then with a small sigh, turned back to glare at the thick stack of documents still awaiting his attention.

It had been a week and a half since Gellert Grindelwald’s capture, and the Ministry of Magic was in full cleanup and damage control mode. Theseus, as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement’s Auror Office, was leading the department in post-Grindelwald cleanup. He’d sent numerous teams of Aurors out across Europe to track down Grindelwald’s followers; the results so far had been mixed, at best. They’d managed to clean up some of the smaller cells, mostly consisting of lower-level Dark wizards, but the more powerful wizards and Grindelwald’s inner circle had gone to ground and so far, successfully evaded capture.

The worst part was, thought Theseus as he scanned through yet another of his strike teams’ reports, was that Grindelwald’s capture didn’t actually seem to have weakened his network. On the contrary, Grindelwald’s capture actually seemed to have _emboldened_ his followers: recently, there had been increasing numbers of reports of attacks on Muggles, the Dark wizards who carried out these attacks championing Grindelwald as a martyr to their cause.

He put the report aside, and picked up another stack of parchment that he’d put aside for further perusal. This line of inquiry, he was more hopeful about. From the frequency and scale of attacks on Muggles, as well as the aggressive recruitment drive that he’d heard from multiple sources that Grindelwald’s followers were carrying out, the Dark wizards seemed to have virtually unlimited coin to fund their activities all across Europe, and nobody seemed to be quite sure where the funds were coming from.

Cutting off the group’s source of funds would, Theseus had decided, be the most effective way to bring their activities to a halt. Accordingly, he’d assigned a dedicated team to investigate the group’s finances, and their findings had been interesting, to say the least.

The team had discovered that the flows of funds toward anti-Muggle activities had, surprisingly, seemed to have originated from Muggle-heavy areas of London. In other words, however Grindelwald’s followers were obtaining their funds – and he strongly suspected that however they were doing it, it was probably illegal – they seemed to be laundering the money through some kind of Muggle facility, then passing those funds back out to the groups that carried out the hate attacks against Muggles. Much as he hated to admit it, it was a clever way of covering their tracks – the Muggle and wizarding worlds tended to operate completely separately, and it was only the thorough work of his Aurors that had led them to make the connection.

By the time he got to the end of the report, he was smiling in grim triumph. Finally, a concrete lead – they’d managed to trace some of the funds from a couple of the most recent attacks to a particular Muggle bank. While his team had managed to get hold of the account numbers at the bank, they had no other information as yet. The next logical step, thought Theseus, would be to search the bank for the customer information of those accounts. He’d have to sneak in, of course; the name of the Ministry of Magic wouldn’t carry any weight with a Muggle bank, so he could hardly march in and demand to see their records.

This particular bank had five branches across London, and a few more outside. He’d start with the ones in London, decided Theseus, then if he didn’t find anything, he’d proceed to the ones further out. He hoped that he’d find something in one of the London branches; this entire operation so far had been a race against time, and one that they weren’t winning.

That decided, he Transfigured his clothes into a passable approximation of Muggle clothing, then left the office.

 

***

 

“Hey,” Newt Scamander crooned softly, approaching the quivering, terrified unicorn lying awkwardly in the corner of a holding room in the Ministry of Magic’s Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures department with slow, measured steps. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help.”

The unicorn raised its head weakly and whickered, struggling desperately to get to its feet, but collapsed back to the ground with a pained noise.

“Oh, no,” said Newt unhappily, pulling his wand out and hurrying to the unicorn’s side. “Is your leg broken? Here, let me see.”

Too weak to resist, the unicorn lay on its side, making no protest as Newt knelt down and checked it over, holding his wand over it and running some diagnostic spells.

It had one broken rib, and, as he’d surmised, one of its front legs was broken as well. The poor creature was also bleeding from numerous cuts and scrapes, its hide stained blue with blood, and its horn was scored and cracked.

“You poor thing,” sighed Newt, almost in tears at the unicorn’s plight. He removed a couple of vials from the pocket of his long coat, then uncorked the first one and moved to face the unicorn.

“This will help with the pain,” he explained. The unicorn eyed him warily, but seemed to decide that Newt wasn’t going to hurt it, and docilely allowed Newt to tilt its head back and feed it the contents of the vial.

That done, he gently straightened the unicorn’s leg, wincing in sympathy at its cry of pain. Drawing his wand out of his pocket, he cast a healing spell on the creature’s broken rib, and then its leg. Then, uncorking the second vial, he began to scoop a viscous green gel out of it, smearing it gently over the unicorn’s various cuts and bruises.

“This will help heal the cuts,” he explained as he worked. The unicorn lay still as Newt worked, but when he capped the vial and put it back in his pocket, wiping off the excess gel on a rag, it raised its head and nudged him, nuzzling against his hand.

Newt smiled then, gently patting the unicorn’s muzzle. “You’ve had a rough day, haven’t you?” he said. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

He gave it one final pat, then got to his feet. “I’m going to get you moved into my case while you recover, okay? It’ll be comfortable and safe, I promise.”

True to his word, with the help of a levitation spell, he got the unicorn comfortably settled in a new enclosure in his case, with ample hay and a supply of fresh water. He checked on his other creatures, fed them, then climbed back out of his case, sighed and sat down in his office to fill up the forms his twin brother had made him promise to file every time he brought an injured creature into his case for rehabilitation.

(“Darling”, Theseus had said with affectionate exasperation, “the Auror office registers all the smuggled creatures that we bring in from raids before handing them over to your department – you can’t just walk off with half of them without telling anyone where you’re taking them!”)

After filing the forms, Newt stretched, took a sip from the glass of pumpkin juice on his desk, then set about getting rid of the large crate the Aurors had brought the unicorn to his department in. They’d found the poor creature in the crate on their latest raid, and, seeing that it was badly injured, had opted to leave the unicorn in the crate and bring it to Newt’s department, rather than let it out of the crate and risk it injuring itself further.

There had been too many of these incidents occurring recently, thought Newt grimly. Injured exotic creatures were being brought to his department with depressing regularity. He was pretty sure – and he suspected Theseus agreed – that these cases were all the work of the same gang. Unfortunately, with the vast majority of the Ministry’s resources currently being dedicated to tracking down Grindelwald’s followers, there were scant resources left for anything else.

Heaving a sigh, he walked over to the unicorn’s crate. The lock that he’d blasted off in his haste to get to the injured creature hung askew on the door, dangling from the one intact bolt that was left. Opening the door of the sturdy wooden crate, Newt stuck his head inside and looked around.

Newt never liked seeing the evidence of how his creatures had been mistreated, but he always made a point to look over the cages or crates the smuggled creatures had been kept in, always hoping to find a clue as to the identity of their tormentors. He’d never actually managed to find anything, though; the perpetrators had always been much too careful to leave a trail that could lead back to them.

It seemed that this time, though, he was in luck. In a corner of the crate, almost buried under the filthy hay, was a crumpled piece of paper. Newt bent over and picked it up, then carefully smoothed it out.

The paper seemed to be a receipt of some sort. There was, however, no description of the transaction, only a list consisting of ten lines of numbers, and a logo in the upper right corner of the sheet. Newt stared at the logo curiously. It looked kind of familiar.

Frowning thoughtfully, Newt brought the piece of paper over to his desk and sat down, trying to recall where he’d seen that particular logo before.

 

***

 

Muggle banks didn’t seem to have the tightest security, reflected Theseus thoughtfully as he hit the ‘down’ button of the staff elevator to take him down to the basement level where client records were stored. He’d transfigured his clothing into a replica of the bank’s security staff uniform and cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on himself, and strolling into the area of the bank marked ‘Private – Employees Only’ had been easy as pie.

He nodded pleasantly at a security guard who was strolling by, then stepped into the elevator as it opened. The elevator doors shut silently.

The elevator dinged as it reached the basement, the doors sliding smoothly open. Theseus stepped out of the elevator into a dim, musty-smelling corridor. A tarnished bronze sign mounted on the wall, that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, informed him that the Client Records room was down the corridor on his right.

He found his way to the Client Records room easily, opening the door with a quick unlocking charm. The room was a long, rectangular one, lit harshly by the single fluorescent tube on the ceiling. It was filled with tall steel shelves spaced evenly apart, casting long shadows on the dull gray walls. Each shelf was filled to overflowing with files upon files of papers, some stacked neatly, others haphazardly shoved in wherever there was available space. One the side of each shelf, facing the door, paper labels with a single letter on them, in alphabetical order from ‘A’ to ‘Z’, had been taped up, and a quick glance through the files indicated that the records had been sorted in alphabetical order by the client’s last name.

Theseus made a face. He only had a list of account numbers, not names. Thank Merlin for some spells that the Auror department had developed especially for situations such as this, he thought, casting a quick searching charm that would make all the documents with strings of numbers matching the ones on his list of accounts temporarily glow with a soft blue light.

He slipped his wand back into his pocket and looked around. One file on the second shelf on the left side of the room had lit up, and he could see another on one of the shelves further down, too. He walked over to the first shelf and pulled out the glowing file –

– and started violently, as someone standing on the other side of the shelf peeked through the empty hole left by the file with a startled air. He had his wand in hand before registering that that face looked _extremely_ familiar. He peered through the hole in disbelief.

“ _Newt?_ ”

  


	2. Chapter 2

  

“Hello, Thes,” Newt said, peering through the shelf between two stacks of files and smiling sheepishly at his brother.

Theseus stared at him. “Newt, what are you _doing_ here?”

Newt looked down, presumably digging through his pockets – Theseus couldn’t see anything of him besides his eyes, nose and one freckled cheek, the rest of him hidden behind the shelf.

Triumphantly, Newt drew a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and shoved it through the hole in the shelf. Theseus took it from him and smoothed it out, walking around the shelf to the next aisle, where Newt was standing.

The paper looked like a deposit slip of some kind – the logo of the Muggle bank they were standing in was stamped at the top corner of the paper, and below it was what looked like an account number, then a few lines of transactions.

He frowned down at the paper. “Where’d you get this?”

“Remember the unicorn you rescued on your last raid?” asked Newt.

“Yes, of course,” said Theseus, nodding. The beautiful creature had been in obvious pain when they’d found it, bruises and lacerations all over its body; he’d been relieved to hand it over to Newt, whom he knew would take good care of it.

“This was in the crate he was in,” said Newt. “His captors must have dropped it.”

“Huh,” Theseus said thoughtfully. He raised an eyebrow at his twin. “And instead of handing it over to the Auror department, you decided to take on some extracurricular activities, hmm, little brother?”

Newt had the grace to look sheepish. “Well…” he said.

“It could have been dangerous!” Theseus said. “What if whoever was smuggling these creatures realized that they’d lost that sheet of paper and managed to track you down? We only arrested some low-level thugs in that raid – the more powerful wizards running the operation are still at large!”

“Yes, but,” said Newt.

“But?”

“You told me that all the Auror department’s resources are being allocated to the Grindelwald case right now,” said Newt. “So if I’d handed the paper over, nobody would’ve had the time to take a look at it until maybe _months_ from now.”

Theseus made a face. “Well, yes…”

“And,” Newt continued stubbornly, “in the meantime, even more magical creatures would be suffering, and _dying_ , needlessly.”

Theseus sighed. “Newt – ”

“Let me look into it, at least, Thes,” said Newt. He squeezed his twin’s arm reassuringly. “I promise that if things get dangerous, I’ll let you know right away.”

“And what if by the time you realize things are getting dangerous, it’s too late?” said Theseus unhappily.

“Stop worrying, Thes!” protested Newt. “I’ve been in dangerous situations before.”

“I _know_ , darling,” grumbled Theseus, running a hand through his hair. “I swear, Newt, every time you go haring off on one of your trips to find some creature that lives in some remote cave in the middle of a frozen tundra buried under ten meters of snow, it shaves a couple of years off my life.”

Newt started to laugh. “Stop being so dramatic, big brother.”

Theseus sighed resignedly. “Fine. If you’re determined to do this, then I’m coming with you.”

Newt blinked innocently at Theseus. “You are?”

“Well, I _did_ come here for a reason,” Theseus pointed out, showing Newt the list of account numbers he’d brought with him. “So if you’re looking for records from that piece of paper you found at this particular Muggle bank, I suppose we’ll both be going to the same places.”

“Oh,” said Newt, then beamed at Theseus, throwing his arms around him in an affectionate hug. “Great!”

Theseus returned the smile, feeling warm all over from Newt’s obvious delight. He pressed a quick kiss to Newt’s temple, letting himself enjoy his twin’s closeness for a moment before gently disentangling himself from Newt.

He’d promised himself, years ago, when he’d realized – to his horror and shame – that his feelings for Newt ran much deeper than one should properly feel for a brother, that Newt could never, ever find out. Newt would no doubt be shocked and disgusted, and while Theseus knew that his sweet, gentle twin would eventually forgive him this failing, things would never be the same between them, and Theseus didn’t think he could bear that.

“Give me a moment,” he said to Newt, and went over to the shelf a few rows down to retrieve the other file he needed, the blue glow already slowly fading.

“How did you find the files you needed?” Newt asked curiously when Theseus returned, pointing at the files Theseus was holding.

“Ah, we have a spell,” Theseus said. “It was developed by the Auror department.”

“Oh,” Newt said. “That sounds useful.” He looked at Theseus hopefully.

Theseus shot his twin a fond, exasperated look. “And if I hadn’t shown up, what would you have done, love? Searched through all these files one by one?”

“I’m sure I would’ve thought of something,” said Newt, ever optimistic.

“I’m sure you would,” said Theseus with a grin, trusting in Newt’s ingenuity, if not so much in his practicality. He looked down at Newt’s sheet of paper, still in his hand, and cast the spell.

Theseus looked around him, walking down the entire row of shelves just to be sure, but none of the files were glowing. He returned to Newt, shaking his head.

“Whatever you were hoping to find, it’s not here,” he said.

Newt nodded. “I would’ve been pretty lucky to have found it at the first place I tried,” he said. “But I’m glad I came here, since I ran into you here.”

Theseus rolled his eyes at his twin. “You do realize, when you came home and told me what you’d been up to today, I probably would’ve ended up coming with you tomorrow anyway, right?”

“You worry too much, Thes,” said Newt, giving Theseus’s arm an affectionate squeeze.

“Then _stop doing things to make me worry_ ,” grumbled Theseus. Newt laughed and followed him out the door of the Records room.

 

***

 

They managed to search two more branches of the bank that day, both in the London area. Theseus collected two more files for the accounts he needed, and Newt managed to find the file for the account he was looking for, too.

Back at home that evening in the flat they shared, Theseus and Newt settled down in their living room to look through the files they’d gathered. Setting his mug of hot tea on the coffee table, Theseus sat down on one side of the sofa and flipped the first file open. Newt wandered over holding his own mug of tea, set it down on the coffee table next to Theseus’s and flopped down on his back on the sofa, laying his head on Theseus’s lap, long legs dangling off the end of the sofa.

Theseus shifted his file to make room for Newt’s head, putting the file on the armrest of the sofa instead. He flipped slowly through the pages of the file with one hand, absentmindedly petting Newt’s hair with the other. Meanwhile, Newt stretched himself out comfortably on the sofa, rested the file he’d obtained on his stomach and began to leaf through the contents.

“Did you find anything?” Newt asked a while later, tipping his head back so he could see his twin’s face.

Theseus was frowning thoughtfully. He leaned over to pick his mug up from the table and took a gulp of tea. “There aren’t any identifying details in these files,” he said glumly. “No names or addresses. I suppose they keep those at the bank’s headquarters, and probably under tighter security. All I see in here are lists of transactions, and it looks like the counterparty names are all coded – the incoming and outgoing transactions are all assigned only to account numbers.”

Newt nodded. “Mine’s like that, too,” he said, tossing his file on the coffee table. “So…do we go search the bank’s headquarters, then?”

“You make it sound so easy,” grumbled Theseus.

Newt shrugged and stifled a yawn, shutting his eyes.

Theseus still had a couple of pages left to go through in the last file. He idly flicked through the remaining pages, not really hoping to find anything useful. When he reached the final page, though, he stared at it, brow furrowed.

“Huh,” he said.

Newt opened his eyes. “What is it?” he asked, looking up at his twin.

“There’s an address on this page,” Theseus said. “Looks like it’s a short distance north of London.” He paused thoughtfully. “I’ll go check it out tomorrow morning.”

Newt scrambled upright and peered at the page. “When you say ‘I’ll check it out’,” he said suspiciously, “you mean you and your team of Aurors, right?”

Theseus shook his head. “The department’s really stretched right now,” he said. “MACUSA’s handling the Grindelwald fallout in America, but I’ve had to send teams out across Europe to search for Grindelwald’s followers. There’s a lot of ground to cover, and my teams are overworked as it is. I’m not going to have them do extra work for what might end up being a wild-goose chase.”

Newt stared at Theseus. “So you’re going to an address you found in a suspicious file, _without backup_?”

“I’ll be fine, love,” said Theseus. He flipped the file shut and put it on the coffee table. “I’m just going to do some reconnaissance.”

“You’re not doing that _alone!_ ” Newt said, eyeing him incredulously. “I’ll go with you.”

“What?” said Theseus. “ _No._ ”

“Why not?” demanded Newt.

“It might be dangerous!” said Theseus. “I’m not bringing a civilian in there with me, and especially not my _little brother!_ ”

Newt glared at Theseus.

“What?” Theseus said. “I’m a trained Auror, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure that will serve you well,” said Newt, “when ten Dark wizards all cast curses on you at the same time.”

“ _Newt._ ”

“Fine,” Newt sighed resignedly. “If you won’t let me go with you, I guess I’ll just have to make myself useful and work on the rest of our investigation.”

“What?” said Theseus.

“I’ll break into the headquarters of this Muggle bank tomorrow and see if I can find any information about these accounts,” said Newt. He picked the stack of files up from the coffee table and stood up.

“ _What?_ ” Theseus stood up as well, grabbing Newt’s arm. Newt blinked innocently at his brother.

“Ugh,” muttered Theseus. “ _Fine,_ you win.”

Newt beamed at him. “Wake me up when you want to head out,” he said cheerfully, leaning in to give his twin a hug. “Goodnight, Thes!”

Theseus glared helplessly as Newt disappeared into his bedroom.

“Damn it,” he muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face.

  


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Newt padded barefoot into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes blearily as Theseus, already fully dressed, was sitting at the counter munching on a piece of toast with marmalade on it. A cup of half-finished tea was next to his plate.

“Good morning,” said Newt, yawning. “You weren’t planning to sneak out without me, were you?” He eyed Theseus’s robes.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, darling,” said Theseus innocently. “Tea?”

“Please,” said Newt. He stole a piece of toast off Theseus’s plate and stuck it in his mouth as Theseus hopped off the stool he was sitting on, poured out a cup of tea and handed it to Newt.

“Thanks,” Newt said, muffled, taking the cup from his brother as he crunched on the toast. Theseus hopped back on his stool and grinned at Newt.

“Slob,” he teased gently, leaning over to swipe some marmalade off the corner of Newt’s mouth with his thumb. Newt smiled brightly at him.

Theseus returned to sipping his half-finished cup of tea and flipping through that morning’s edition of the _Daily Prophet_ , absent-mindedly popping his thumb into his mouth to lick the marmalade off. He glanced up to see Newt blinking at him.

“What?” he asked.

Newt shook his head. His cheeks were a little pink. “Nothing,” he said, and stuck his nose back in his cup of tea.

“Ready to go?” Theseus asked, after they’d both finished their toast and tea, and Newt had changed his clothes.

Newt nodded. Theseus took his arm, and they Disapparated together.

 

***

 

“Where are we?” asked Newt, glancing around him. After Apparating, the twins had found themselves in a quiet corner of a large concrete-and-steel complex, filled with squat, run-down buildings in various shades of gray and surrounded by a tall barbed-wire fence.

“Charming place,” muttered Theseus, eyeing the barbed wire mistrustfully. “We’re about an hour north of London by train, apparently. I looked it up last night – the address on that file.”

“Warehouses?” suggested Newt, looking around again.

“Looks like,” agreed Theseus. “Or some kind of storage facility, at least.”

They prowled around the complex silently, wands out, but the whole place was eerily silent, not a single person in sight. Some of the buildings looked as if they hadn’t been entered in months or even years, the large padlocks on the doors covered in a thick layer of dust. The silence was oppressive, and both men looked around them uneasily as they explored the area.

Theseus scowled unhappily. “Maybe they just chose a random address to give to the bank, and there isn’t actually anything here.”

Newt opened his mouth, but before he could reply, a loud _thud_ that sounded like it came from within the building beside them made them both jump. They exchanged an alarmed glance.

They approached the door of the building slowly. The padlock on this door shone, no trace of dust on it – clearly it had been put on the door fairly recently. Holding his wand out, Theseus cast a few diagnostic spells on it.

“It’s been locked by magical means,” he murmured to Newt.

Newt nodded. “So we’re on the right track, then,” he said softly. There was another loud _thump_ from within the warehouse.

“Stay behind me,” said Theseus, stepping protectively in front of Newt. Newt frowned worriedly at his twin but complied.

Theseus pointed his wand at the lock. “ _Alohomora._ ”

The padlock snapped open. Theseus removed it from the door and, very slowly, pushed the door open and stepped inside, Newt close behind him. Newt turned around to shut the door behind them.

The inside of the warehouse was dank and dim, lit only by the meager sunlight that managed to make it through the tiny, rectangular windows high on the walls. Crates and boxes were piled in haphazard stacks everywhere.

Even through the musty odor in the warehouse, Theseus could smell the metallic tang of blood. Tensing, he tightened his grip on his wand, and, reaching back with his other hand, placed one arm on Newt’s, keeping his brother behind him.

It was quiet and still in the warehouse, then, suddenly, the silence was broken by a loud roar and _something_ charged straight at them, sending boxes and crates flying. Theseus turned, grabbed Newt and dove for cover behind one of the stacks of crates that was still intact. The _thing_ crashed noisily into the wall and roared in pain, then stumbled around blindly, bringing down a couple more stacks of boxes.

“What _was_ that?” hissed Theseus, releasing Newt and peering around the edge of the crate. It was difficult to see much in the darkness of the warehouse, but the thing that had attacked them seemed to be some kind of large creature, maybe four times the size of an elephant. It was a dark gray in color, with a leathery hide and a long, thick tail. It was facing away from him so he couldn’t see its head, but the smell of blood was much stronger now; the creature was probably injured, he thought.

Newt picked himself up, brushing the dust off his coat, and peered around the crate too, resting his chin on the top of Theseus’s head as the creature turned around.

“Oh!” he said.

“Shh!” said Theseus, pulling Newt back behind the crates. “Is that – ”

“ – an Erumpent, yes,” said Newt, frowning worriedly. He peeked around the side of the crate again. “Looks like a male – he’s hurt, look, there’s blood around the base of his horn, and over his eye – he might have injured his eye, too – that’s probably why he’s knocking all those boxes down, he’s probably barely able to see out of that eye.”

Theseus nodded. “What should we do?” he asked Newt.

If it’d been him and a team of his Aurors, they’d probably have tried to Stun the Erumpent before bringing it back to the Ministry, but Erumpents, given their large size and hardiness, were notoriously hard to Stun and it usually took multiple Aurors casting to subdue the creatures. Besides it being just himself and Newt here at the moment, Newt was also the resident creature expert; if Newt had a better solution, Theseus was more than happy to leave the situation in his twin’s hands.

Newt had his ever-present case open, and was digging frantically through it. “Ah,” he said finally, drawing out a little stoppered glass tube, half-full of a pale pink liquid.

“What’s that?” asked Theseus.

“It’s um, scent,” said Newt. “From a female Erumpent – you know there’s one in my case, you’ve met her – I’m hoping this will calm him down.” He nodded toward the male Erumpent, which was still snorting angrily as it wandered around the warehouse.

Newt removed the stopper from the glass tube, then threw the liquid onto the floor behind the crate. He put the tube into his pocket, then they waited.

They heard the Erumpent lumber up to the puddle on the floor, sniffing at it curiously. A brief silence followed, then some scuffling sounds. A few minutes later, they both started as a loud _thump_ came from the Erumpent’s general direction. They both peered around the edge of the crate again.

The Erumpent had settled down on the floor, lying next to the puddle of fluid that Newt had poured out. Its back legs were stretched out, forelegs tucked under itself; its head was resting wearily on the floor and strangely enough, the whole effect was to make it look rather like an overgrown dog.

Now that the Erumpent was facing them, Theseus could see the dried blood caked over its eye and around the base of the single, large horn on its snout. There was a deep, straight diagonal cut across its left eye, and shallower, horizontal grooves around the base of its horn, still slowly oozing blood – neither looked like injuries that the creature could conceivably have obtained out in the wild. Add that information to the fact that Erumpent horns were considered a Class B Tradeable Material and an extremely valuable potion ingredient, and Theseus had a bad feeling that he knew exactly how the Erumpent had found itself in this particular situation.

Evidently Newt’s thoughts had taken the same direction as his, because his twin was frowning unhappily and muttering under his breath about poachers. He rubbed Newt’s back soothingly. 

“We’ll get them,” he assured Newt, who sighed and leaned into him, resting his head on Theseus’s shoulder. Theseus gave in to the urge to slip his arms around Newt, giving his twin a hug. He dropped a kiss on the top of Newt’s head before releasing him.

Squaring his shoulders, Newt crept out from behind the crate, crouching on the ground to make himself look small and harmless. At the movement, the Erumpent quickly raised its head, looking around until it saw Newt. It blinked its good eye, and drew in its hind legs.

Theseus remained crouched behind the crate, watching tensely. He’d seen Newt work his magic with various creatures before, and while he had full confidence in Newt’s abilities with magical creatures, he could never quite shake the worry that his little brother might get badly hurt, one day. Magical creatures could sometimes be unpredictable, and no matter how good a handler you were – and Newt was an _excellent_ one – accidents could still happen.

As Newt got closer to the Erumpent, the creature grew more agitated, scrambling to its feet. It snorted again, and stamped a foot on the ground nervously.

“Hey,” Newt said softly. “It’s okay, I’m here to help you.” He stood up slowly, and reached for the Erumpent.

The creature tossed its head nervously, and Newt jumped back – but a little too late, as the Erumpent’s large, sharp horn sliced across his cheek and his raised hand, and he cried out in pain. Theseus was on his feet instantly, rushing around the crate with his wand raised, heartbeat thundering in his ears. The Erumpent snorted, tossing its head again.

Newt half-turned toward Theseus, shaking his head. Blood was dripping from the long cut on his face and his upraised palm.

“Thes,” he said. “Thes, don’t. I’m okay. He didn’t mean to.”

Theseus gritted his teeth and nodded reluctantly, slowly lowering his wand. His pulse was still racing; every instinct he had was screaming at him to Stun the creature before it could hurt Newt again.

Newt turned back to the Erumpent, murmuring softly, soothingly to it. Eventually the creature ducked its head, allowing Newt to rub its snout and lead it toward the crates where he and Theseus had been hiding.

Taking Newt’s case from where they’d left it behind the crates, Theseus placed the battered brown case on the ground and opened it, and Newt led the now-docile Erumpent into the case. Taking a last look around to make sure they hadn’t left anything behind, Theseus shut and locked the case, picked it up, relocked the warehouse door and grimly Apparated back to his and Newt’s flat.

 

***

 

Once he was back at their flat, Theseus placed Newt’s case on the floor of their living room, unlocked and opened it, and hurried into the case. Newt was just entering the room he used as a laboratory, dusting soil and dirt off his hands, as Theseus came down the stairs. Theseus looked at him.

“Your cheek’s still bleeding,” he said worriedly, coming over to Newt. He cupped Newt’s face gently in one hand, tilting it up to take a better look at the cut.

Newt beamed at Theseus, unconcerned. “I had to set up a new enclosure for the Erumpent, first,” he said cheerfully. “That’s all done now. I’ve taken care of his more pressing injuries for now, and I’m going to let him settle in a little before healing the more minor ones.”

Theseus sighed. “Newt,” he said, “ _please_ tell me you healed the cut on your hand before doing that, at least.” He took Newt’s injured hand in both of his, turning the palm up to examine it.

“Oh, I did _that_ ,” said Newt brightly. “I needed both hands functional to work on the enclosure.”

Theseus sighed again, leading Newt over to the stained workbench and sitting him down on it. He pulled out his wand, sat down next to Newt and got to work healing the cut on Newt’s face.

“Darling,” he chided. “You _really_ need to start taking better care of yourself.”

“That’s what I have _you_ for, Thes,” teased Newt.

Theseus ducked his head; Newt’s words were making him feel all warm inside. But… “You won’t always want me around, though, love,” he said, smiling sadly. “Once you find someone you want to spend your life with, he or she’ll be the one who’ll get to take care of you instead.”

Newt blinked in surprise, then his face fell. “Oh,” he said blankly. “I…” He stopped, swallowing hard. “Thes – are you seeing someone? I – if I’m in the way, I could find…somewhere else to live, or…”

“What are you saying?” said Theseus, catching his wrist. “Don’t be ridiculous. Nobody’ll ever be more important to me than you are. And I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Oh,” said Newt again, and he had an odd expression on his face that Theseus couldn’t quite decipher; far-away and a little melancholy. “But you’ll tell me if you start seeing someone, right? I wouldn’t want – want to…impose, or anything.”

“That’s not something you’ll need to worry about, little brother,” said Theseus. He drew Newt into his arms, hugging him tightly. “Trust me.”

Newt was silent, winding his slender arms about his twin’s waist and resting his cheek on Theseus’s shoulder.

“And,” said Theseus, nudging his nose into Newt’s messy hair, “if _you_ start seeing someone, you’ve got to tell me as well, okay?” He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that when that did happen, it would break his heart; he’d spent years trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to steel himself to the knowledge that he would eventually lose Newt to someone else. 

He just hoped that Newt would find someone who would love and treasure him as much as Theseus did, and that at that point, he’d still be able to be part of Newt’s life, however small. Pathetic, perhaps, but he’d take what he could get.

Newt’s arms tightened around Theseus, and for a long time, he said nothing. Just as Theseus was starting to wonder if Newt had fallen asleep, Newt huffed a small sigh against his neck and said softly, “…alright.”

After a few moments, Theseus gently nudged Newt away from him so he could check the work of his healing spell. He drew his thumb gently over the freshly healed skin of Newt’s cheek, smiling at him. “There, all better.”

Newt smiled at him, still looking preoccupied and, somehow, a little sad. “Thanks, Thes,” he said.

“Hey,” said Theseus. He leaned forward, touching his twin’s cheek gently. “What’s the matter, darling?”

“Nothing,” Newt said, shaking himself out of his reverie with what looked like some effort. He smiled at Theseus. “Want to come see the Erumpent?”

 


	4. Chapter 4

The injured Erumpent seemed to have settled in nicely, thought Theseus. Newt had created a spacious, grassy enclosure for the large creature, wide and airy. He’d used a weather charm to create a bright, sunny sky, and placed ample greenery to serve as shade. When they’d reached the new enclosure, the Erumpent had been stretched out under a large tree, relaxing in the shade.

When the Erumpent spotted them, it got to its feet, swinging its large, heavy tail gently. It waited patiently, with no sign of its earlier agitation, as Newt gently rubbed its snout and murmured softly to it. Newt had healed the cuts over its left eye and around the base of its horn, noted Theseus.

“I don’t suppose he’ll regain sight in his left eye?” he asked Newt.

Newt shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said sadly. “The damage was already done by the time we found him.”

Theseus squeezed Newt’s shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t worry,” he said, turning to address the Erumpent. “You can show off your battle scars to Newt’s girl Erumpent, when you meet her. She’ll love them.”

Newt laughed, then, wand out, he moved to slowly circle the Erumpent, checking for any minor injuries that he’d missed healing. With Newt out of sight, the Erumpent turned toward Theseus, examining him carefully with its good eye. It huffed a questioning snort.

“I’m his brother,” Theseus informed it, holding out a hand for it to sniff. The Erumpent examined Theseus’s hand, gave another snort, then turned away, losing interest.

Moving a little distance away, Theseus stretched out on his back in the long grass, hands behind his head, turning to look at Newt. It was always a joy to watch Newt work, happy and in his element. It was probably selfish of him to want to keep his twin all to himself, but Theseus treasured the rare moments like these, just him and Newt and Newt’s various creatures, in the relative peace and quiet of Newt’s case.

Newt came over to him, flopping down on his belly next to Theseus.

“I’ve healed all his injuries as well as I can,” he said, nodding at the Erumpent. “I’ll give him some time to recover fully and get used to being in here before I introduce him to the female Erumpent. Hopefully they’ll like each other.”

“Mm,” said Theseus drowsily. He rolled over onto his side, wrapping his arms around Newt. “I’m sure she’ll like him, with his dashing scars and all.”

Newt laughed, wriggling into a more comfortable position then wrapping himself around Theseus agreeably. “What if she doesn’t, though?”

“Then they can each have their nice separate enclosures,” Theseus said. “Can’t choose who you fall in love with, after all.” _And don’t I know it_ , he mentally added, his arms tightening around Newt. He sighed and buried his nose in his twin’s hair.

“Hmm,” murmured Newt thoughtfully, tucking his head under Theseus’s jaw.

“You smell like Erumpent,” mumbled Theseus.

“I guess I do,” said Newt ruefully. “I did spend an hour healing this one, after all.” He released his grip on Theseus and sat up slowly, obviously reluctant. “Let me take a bath, then we can go get some dinner?”

Theseus nodded, getting to his feet. “I can’t believe we ran into this Erumpent when we were working on _my_ case,” he said. “I didn’t expect to run into any creatures while tracking this group of Dark wizards. And we haven’t even gotten to your poaching case yet.”

“Don’t remind me,” sighed Newt.

 

***

 

Theseus let his twin lead the way out of his case. As Newt’s menagerie had grown, he’d had to use ever-stronger expanding charms on the inside of the case; in addition to the case’s increasing size, Newt also kept shifting the various enclosures around in a constant effort to optimize the internal environment, which made it near impossible for Theseus to find his way out of the case on his own.

As he followed Newt, being careful to step around an Occamy nest which said Occamy had, perversely, decided to build smack in the middle of the path, a nudge to the middle of his back made him jump and spin around.

“Oh,” he said in surprise.

Looking down at him was a unicorn, its sleek, pure white coat almost glowing in the sunlight. Its hooves and the long, spiraled horn on its forehead were a burnished gold. It blinked its large, soulful brown eyes slowly, then nudged his cheek with its muzzle in a friendly manner.

“Hello,” he said, raising a tentative hand to pat its muzzle. It nuzzled his hand happily.

“You must be that unicorn we rescued from those poachers,” he said to it. “You look like you’re doing well – I’m glad. Did Newt give you a name yet?”

“His name’s Spirit,” said Newt, walking up beside Theseus – evidently he’d realized that his twin was no longer following him, and had come back to look for him. His glance at Theseus was affectionate, but a little puzzled.

“It’s nice to see you again, Spirit,” Theseus said to the unicorn, which whickered softly and nudged his hand, flicking its tail. “I see Newt’s been taking good care of you.” Noticing the odd look Newt was giving him, he turned toward his twin. “What is it?”

“You know how unicorns are pretty rare?” asked Newt.

Theseus nodded.

“Spirit’s the first unicorn I’ve been able to interact with up close,” said Newt. He smiled softly at the beautiful creature, gently patting its side. “Unicorns tend to be pretty shy, they hardly ever approach a human – although I guess he remembers that you’re the one who rescued him.”

Theseus nodded again. None of this explained why Newt had been looking at him oddly, though. “But?” he prompted.

“But, er.” Newt fidgeted uncomfortably. “Most of the texts I’ve read about unicorns – well, there aren’t many – but anyway, they, er, tend to say that unicorns will only get close to humans who are, um. Pure.”

Theseus blinked. “ _Pure_ ,” he said.

“Um,” said Newt again. “Virgins,” he elaborated helpfully, flushing.

Theseus grinned. “Yes, I got that,” he said. Newt opened his mouth, hesitated, then shut his mouth firmly, looking terribly embarrassed.

Taking pity on him, Theseus answered the question his twin hadn’t quite been able to bring himself to ask. “No, I’m not one.”

What he would _never_ tell Newt, though, was how he’d dated a few women and then more men, realizing that he’d preferred men; he had, however, never been able to hold down a relationship for more than four months – every single one of his relationships had fizzled out because his partner hadn’t, in one way or another, been able to measure up to Newt. Once he’d come to the horrified realization that _that_ was the reason he was a complete and utter failure at relationships, he’d just given the whole endeavor up as a lost cause.

 _You can’t choose who you fall in love with_ , he’d said to Newt earlier. Good thing his twin hadn’t had any clue what he’d _really_ been talking about.

Merlin, he was messed up.

Another thought occurred to him then, and he stared at Newt, feeling his own cheeks grow warm. “You. Er. You are?”

“Um,” mumbled Newt, looking at his feet. His face was almost as red as his hair. “Yes.”

“Oh,” said Theseus dumbly. He’d always assumed that Newt had had something going with Leta Lestrange, way back when they’d been at Hogwarts – at least until the Jarvey incident, where Newt had covered for Leta’s recklessness and nearly gotten himself expelled in the process. Newt had stopped speaking to Leta, after, but he’d also made Theseus promise not to make good on his threat to hex the living daylights out of her.

Since then, Theseus had never seen Newt date anyone; he’d wondered about it sometimes, thought (feared) that maybe Newt would get back together with Leta, but Newt and Leta had spent their remaining time at Hogwarts being civil to each other, if not friendly; when they’d graduated, Newt had not, as far as he knew, kept in touch with Leta.

Now, every time Theseus and Newt made a trip home and their parents asked Newt whether he was seeing anyone yet, he always smiled and told them that he was too busy working on his book to date anyone, so Theseus had just let the matter lie. If he was completely honest with himself, he had to admit that he’d been _glad_ that Newt didn’t seem to be remotely interested in dating; eventually someone was going to realize what a catch his little brother was and snap him up, but in the meantime, Theseus was perfectly happy to keep Newt all to himself. (Merlin’s balls, he was the _worst brother ever_.)

Anyway, he was _not_ going to think about Newt being a virgin, because that way lay madness.

Newt was looking at Theseus out of the corner of his eye. “I told you Leta and I were just friends,” he said, as if reading Theseus’s thoughts. “Maybe we might’ve been more,” Newt continued slowly, “if. Well. If that whole incident in Fifth Year hadn’t happened. But I’m glad, because it showed me that Leta and I weren’t right for each other.”

Theseus nodded. “You haven’t wanted to date anyone since then, though…?”

Newt shrugged and blushed a little, not quite meeting Theseus’s eyes. “I, um.” he said, chewing nervously on his lower lip. “The, um, person that I – ” He stopped, shaking his head, and shot Theseus an aggrieved look. “Never mind.”

As Theseus was fumbling for a reply, Spirit stuck his nose between them, unhappy at not being paid any attention to. Both men jumped, startled.

There was relief in Newt’s laugh as he dug around in his pockets and produced an apple, which he handed to Theseus. Theseus eyed Newt carefully, trying to find a way to ask about what he’d just said – or _not_ said, but Newt was acting determinedly cheerful, so Theseus let the matter drop, temporarily shelved but not forgotten.

Spirit, impatient, leaned forward and plucked the apple right out of Theseus’s hand, crunching on it noisily. Theseus stared at the unicorn.

“Newt’s got to teach you some manners,” he said. Spirit nosed at him in a friendly manner.

“Hey,” Theseus said, turning to Newt as a thought occurred to him. “Maybe ‘pure’ means ‘pure of heart’.” He grinned, poking Newt’s forehead. “But I see your filthy mind only jumped to one conclusion.”

Newt blushed, then perked up. “Actually,” he said, “that _could_ explain it.”

“I was _kidding_ ,” said Theseus.

Newt shrugged. “It could still explain it,” he said brightly. He pulled the draft of his book out of his pocket, then stuck his nose in it and lapsed into a thoughtful silence. Theseus barely managed to coax him out of his preoccupation for long enough for Newt to lead them out of the case, mumbling all the while about how he had to get more information for the section about unicorns in his book.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Theseus and Newt set out for the warehouse compound again bright and early, planning to search around the area where they’d found the Erumpent in the hopes of finding more clues. Their plans, however, were abruptly halted when they Apparated to the same spot that they had the previous day, and heard voices in front of them.

They both froze.

By some small miracle, the two wizards standing about ten meters in front of Theseus and Newt were facing away from them, and, deep in conversation, didn’t seem to have heard them Apparating in. Theseus glanced quickly around them, grimacing; there was no ready cover to be found, and the closest warehouse was a good fifteen meters away from them. Well, there was no help for it.

Theseus reached over and took Newt’s hand, and when Newt looked over at him, eyes wide, he nodded toward the warehouse. Newt nodded. Hand-in hand, they crept silently over to the warehouse, glancing over at the two wizards every so often in case they turned around, but both men seemed to be deeply absorbed in whatever they were discussing, and didn’t even look up.

They were a couple of steps away from the relative safety of the warehouse when Newt’s shoe caught on a loose pebble, sending it skittering over to the warehouse wall and bouncing off it with a soft clatter. Newt’s eyes widened, panicky.

Quick as a flash, Theseus darted behind the wall of the warehouse, hurriedly tugging Newt with him. By the time the two wizards in front of them spun around, they were safely tucked behind the wall of the warehouse, Newt still clutching Theseus’s hand, one of Theseus’s arms around Newt’s waist. They pressed themselves against the wall, holding their breaths; from behind the warehouse, they could hear shuffling noises as the wizards presumably walked forward, looking for the source of the noise.

“Did you hear that?” asked one of them. “I wasn’t imagining it, was I?”

“I heard it,” said the second one, sounding unconcerned. “Probably just a rat.”

“A rat?” said the first one, sounding disbelieving. “There hasn’t been hide nor hair of a single living soul around here, besides us.”

“And a good thing, too,” retorted the second. “Damned good place to hide the cargo in. Seems like nobody bothers about this place since it’s been abandoned for years.”

“Hmph,” said the first wizard. “I suppose a rat’s more likely than a _person_ , anyway.”

There was a pause. “Well, that’s the last of this shipment moved out,” said the other voice. “Merlin, I’ll be glad to not have to come back to this damned place for a while.”

“The ship’s bringing this lot out tomorrow?” asked the first man.

“Yeah. Remember to be at the docks this afternoon to load the cargo. Usual spot, right at the end.”

The first man sighed. “I’m not paid enough to do all this heavy lifting.”

A derisive snort. “Stop complaining. Okay, let’s go. Think we’re done here.”

Theseus relaxed, releasing his hold on Newt. It sounded like the two wizards were leaving, and he and Newt now knew where to go to search for this mysterious ‘cargo’.

“Hey,” said the first wizard. “What do we do about that Erumpent? The one that broke the Stunning spell when we tried to cut off its horn?”

Theseus held his breath. If the two wizards went to get the Erumpent and found it missing…

“Ah, just leave it,” said the second wizard, sounding disgusted. “The damn thing’s not worth the trouble. Let it die in there.”

Beside him, Theseus felt Newt draw himself up in indignation. He hurriedly clapped a hand over Newt’s mouth before his twin could make a sound.

Newt eyed him balefully, but subsided.

After a few minutes of silence, Theseus chanced a quick glance around the side of the warehouse. There was no sign of the two wizards; presumably they had gone their separate ways before they’d have to meet up at the docks that afternoon. He nodded at Newt, and they Apparated home.

 

***

 

After grabbing a quick lunch and feeding Newt’s creatures, Theseus and Newt Apparated to the London docks and made their way to the berth at the far end.

There was already a cargo ship in the berth when they arrived, although it seemed that they’d arrived early enough that none of the wizards who were supposed to load the ‘cargo’ had turned up yet. Three huge trucks were parked outside the enclosed loading bay behind the docks.

“Huh,” said Theseus, eyeing the trucks. “Smart of them, to use only Muggle methods to store and transport their goods. Explains why we didn’t detect their operation sooner.”

The warehouse doors were locked, so Theseus used an unlocking charm to open them, carefully shutting and relocking them after he and Newt were inside, leaving them in pitch-blackness.

“ _Lumos_ ,” whispered Theseus, and both men looked around as the interior of the warehouse was illuminated in the soft blue glow of Theseus’s wandlight.

The warehouse was filled with crates, all stamped with the stylized logo of a ship, with the words “Global Cargo Shipping” printed below it. Theseus ran his hand over one of the logos thoughtfully.

Next to him, Newt pried one of the crates open and peered into it, then abruptly dropped his wand and made a wordless noise of distress, pressing both hands over his mouth. Theseus was by his side immediately. “What is it?” he said, looking into the crate.

Inside the case was row after row of Erumpent horns, packed carefully between layers of cloth padding. Mindful that the fluid inside an Erumpent horn was highly volatile, Theseus put his wand on an adjacent crate then carefully removed a couple of the large, heavy horns, laying them on the ground, then dug into the crate, pulling up some of the padding under the first layer of horns. Underneath were at least two more layers of Erumpent horns, similarly packed. He grimaced.

Newt had opened another crate. This one was filled with Occamy eggshells, gleaming silver, startling in the dimness of the warehouse. Theseus looked at Newt. His brother looked distraught to the point of tears, glancing from the Erumpent horns to the Occamy eggshells, then turning to stare despairingly at the stacks of crates around them.

“Hey,” Theseus said, slipping a comforting arm around his twin. Newt turned to Theseus with a half-sob, reaching blindly for him, and Theseus pulled his brother into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around him. “Newt. Darling. We’ll get these guys, okay? I promise.”

One arm still around Newt, Theseus reached over to pick up his wand from where he’d left it on the crate; as he did, he knocked over a rolled-up scroll of parchment that had been left next to his wand.

With a small sigh, Newt pulled back from the hug and bent over to pick up his wand from where he’d dropped it, tucking it away. Theseus slipped his wand into his pocket and picked up the parchment, unrolling it. His brow furrowed as he read through it.

“Newt,” he said after a moment. “It looks like we’ve found your poachers.”

“What?” said Newt blankly. “But – we came here looking for the men you were tracking for _your_ case – ”

“We did,” Theseus said grimly. You needn’t have worried about the Auror department being too busy with the Grindelwald case to take on your poachers after all.” He handed the parchment to Newt. “It seems your poachers _are_ the Grindelwald case.”

Newt took the parchment, squinting down at it. Theseus moved his wand closer so they could both read the parchment in the wandlight.

On the top corner of the parchment, there was a now-familiar logo – the logo of the Muggle bank they’d started their investigation at – next to a string of numbers, following by a handwritten list of names and sums of money below it.

Theseus pointed to the number at the top of the page with his wand. “That’s the account number you were looking for, right?”

Newt fumbled around in his pocket, then drew out the crumpled piece of paper he’d found in Spirit’s crate when Theseus had brought the unicorn to him. He looked at it, then at the parchment in his other hand. “It is,” he said, nodding.

“And those names,” said Theseus, pointing to the list of names below the account number, “well – I don’t recognize all of them, but three of them are Dark wizards whom we recently brought in for masterminding the recent spates of attacks on Muggles, and five of the others are on our watch list.”

He tapped the sums of money listed next to each name thoughtfully. “These could be the split of the revenue from this smuggling operation. So _that’s_ how they’re financing all the aggressive recruiting they’re conducting, and all the attacks on Muggles…”

“We need to find out where these crates are being shipped to,” he mumbled, half to himself, then turned toward the crates, shut them and started casting tracking charms on a few of them.

“Thes,” said Newt.

“Hmm?” replied Theseus distractedly. He cast a cloaking charm over the tracking charm, to make it less likely that it would be detected.

“ _Theseus_ ,” said Newt.

Theseus looked up. “Yes?”

Newt nodded toward the door of the warehouse. There was a faint rattling at the door – as if someone was unlocking it.

“ _Damn it!_ ” Theseus glanced desperately around, then hurriedly ducked into the narrow gap between two adjacent stacks of crates, pulling Newt with him. Taking the scroll of parchment from Newt, he shoved it haphazardly into his pocket.

“ _Nox!_ ” he hissed. The light at the tip of his wand went out, plunging the warehouse into darkness.

He was just in time. The door opened, letting in a stream of bright sunlight, and they heard footsteps enter the warehouse, the warm glow of lamplight accompanying them. The lanterns clanked as they were put down on the floor.

“These are the crates that need to be loaded,” said a deep voice.

“Yes, sir,” came the reply – it sounded like the deep-voiced man had brought a few of the docks workers in with him to help with the loading. There was some shuffling, then the men grunted as they lifted the heavy crates and stumped out to load the ship.

Two pairs of footsteps strode deeper into the warehouse, coming closer to where Theseus and Newt were hidden.

“You’ve done well, Barton,” said the deep-voiced man. “This lot of cargo should finance our operations – and that of our American friends – for the next couple of months quite comfortably.”

The space between the crates where Theseus and Newt were hiding was narrow – it was a tight fit for two grown men, but they just about managed it. Theseus had his back pressed against the wall, Newt facing him. As the voices grew louder, Newt nervously glanced over his shoulder and wriggled in as close as he could, hands gripping Theseus’s tightly.

Theseus bit back a whimper. Newt was rubbing against him in all the wrong places, and this was _really_ not the time to get distracted by thoughts of his twin rubbing up against him. In fact, he mentally chastised himself, there was _no appropriate time_ for him to _ever_ think such thoughts about his brother, but dear Merlin, Newt’s squirming _really_ wasn’t helping. He squeezed Newt’s hands, willing his twin to stop moving. As Newt cast another worried glance over his shoulder and practically wrapped himself around Theseus, unthinkingly _gripping Theseus’s hips_ with both hands, Theseus gritted his teeth and thought desperately about taking an ice-cold shower.

“Thanks, Greene,” said the wizard named Barton. The two men stopped a little way in front of where Theseus and Newt were hiding, directly in Theseus’s line of sight. Grateful for the distraction, Theseus peered over Newt’s shoulder, watching the men carefully.

“I don’t suppose we can drop the Erumpents from the next round, can we?” Barton continued. He was a short, powerfully-built wizard with close-cropped dark hair. “I’ve already lost three perfectly good men to those blasted creatures. They’re damned hard to Stun – they gored two of my men before we could Stun ‘em and the last one dropped a horn on his foot and that was the last we saw of him.”

“Those horns fetch a pretty penny,” replied Greene, who was an older, grizzled-looking man. “So it’s necessary that we continue obtaining those Erumpent horns.” He paused thoughtfully. “Our recruitment drives have been quite successful, to say the least. I am sure we’re bringing in more converts to the cause than we’re losing to Erumpents.”

Frowning at yet another reminder of the Erumpent poaching, Newt shifted restlessly against Theseus, oblivious to his twin’s discomfort. Theseus bit his lip so hard that he tasted blood.

“Well, when you put it that way,” sighed Barton. “I suppose it’ll all be worth it as we keep growing the movement and eventually break Grindelwald out from wherever MACUSA’s put him.”

“Don’t worry,” said Greene. “Our American friends are working on a plan for exactly that. Come, let’s go check if the cargo has been loaded.”

 

***

 

Theseus waited until the sound of footsteps had receded and he heard the creak of the heavy warehouse doors being pulled shut before gently pushing Newt to arm’s length.

“C’mon,” he whispered. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll send a team of Aurors to pick those two up – we have more than enough evidence to arrest them – and we also need to find out where those shipments are going to.”

Newt nodded, then looked up in surprise as the warehouse door opened again abruptly. He and Theseus both winced as they were temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight streaming in from the open door.

“…might have left that parchment with the budget in here,” Greene was saying to someone behind him, presumably Barton. Theseus quickly shoved Newt behind the nearest crate, so that his twin was hidden from view.

Greene turned his head and spotted Theseus, letting out a cry of surprise. “Who’s there?” he demanded.

Theseus turned and dove for cover behind the crate of Occamy eggshells he and Newt had opened earlier, narrowly missing being hit with a Petrification spell. He heard Greene yelling for Barton, then footsteps thundering into the warehouse – it sounded like Barton had brought some backup with him. Theseus sighed.

He chanced a peek out from behind the crate. Greene and Barton were standing in the middle of the warehouse, wands out, peering suspiciously around. There were three other wizards standing behind them. Theseus made a face. Five wizards against the two of them, and he and Newt separated at the moment – Theseus was excellent at his job, and he knew Newt was pretty good in a fight, especially when he had his creatures to help him (his twin had captured Grindelwald after all, he thought with a swell of pride) – still, the odds weren’t looking too good. He wanted these men alive so they could be brought in for questioning, which limited him to non-lethal spells while he had no doubt the men pursuing him and Newt would have no qualms about killing them both to keep their operation secret.

Well, if he could get to Newt, they could Apparate out and return with backup. There was absolutely no chance he would Apparate out and hope that Newt would follow; he wouldn’t feel comfortable unless he knew Newt was getting out safely as well.

Crouching low, Theseus crawled around the side of the crate facing away from the group of Dark wizards, and then darted out of his cover and behind the next stack of crates. There was a yell as someone spotted him, then a curse whizzed by his head and hit the crate he’d initially been hiding behind. He leaned out, about to cast a _Petrificus Totalus_ , but before he could, he saw Newt pop out of cover and cast his own body-bind spell. There was a surprised cry and the wizard who’d attacked Theseus fell to the ground, unmoving. Theseus sent a mental thank you to his brother.

He ducked behind the next row of crates, then heard one of the Dark wizards yell, “ _Confringo!_ ”, after which a crate near the middle of the warehouse burst noisily into flames. Theseus jumped, then held his breath, heart hammering in his throat; they hadn’t been aiming at _him_ , which meant that they’d spotted Newt.

“Be careful with those crates, you oaf!” Greene snarled at the wizard who’d cast the Blasting curse. “There’re hundreds of thousands of Galleons worth of materials in there!”

While Greene was yelling, Theseus saw a familiar figure dart out from the crate next to the one that’d exploded and disappear behind another row of crates, and he let out the breath he’d been holding, shoulders relaxing. Newt was still safe.

He ducked round the next stack of crates, crept round the side and started violently as he bumped into Newt.

“Hello,” Newt said breathlessly.

“Hello, yourself.” Theseus grinned at him. Grabbing his twin’s hand, he tried to Apparate them out of the warehouse.

Nothing happened.

Theseus swore. “They must’ve put Anti-Apparition wards up as a precaution. We’ve got to get out of this area before we can Apparate.”

He peered cautiously around the side of the crate. The wizard whom Newt had cast the Full Body-Bind curse on was still lying on the floor. The other four had fanned out, wands in hand, searching for him and Newt. Two of the Dark wizards were facing away from them, but the other two would spot them the moment they stepped out from behind the shelter of the crates.

“I don’t suppose you have any ideas?” he whispered to Newt, mind working furiously. They needed a distraction – he could use one of the magical grenades that were part of the standard Auror arsenal, he supposed.

He was digging around in his pockets for it when Newt said slowly, “actually – I do have an idea.”

Theseus looked at him enquiringly.

Newt drew something that looked like a small green vial out of his pocket. “Get ready to run,” he whispered.

After that, everything happened very quickly. Newt uncorked the vial, which turned out to have a very large Swooping Evil in it. The Swooping Evil, true to its name, zipped out of its vial and swooped hungrily down on the Dark wizards, who scattered and dove for cover, shouting in alarm. Theseus and Newt dashed for the warehouse door.

At the door, Newt paused momentarily to draw the Swooping Evil back into its vial just as it had its jaws open to bite one of the Dark wizards, who was lying flat on his front on the floor. As the disgruntled creature was pulled back into the vial, the wizard it had been about to attack raised his head and pointed his wand straight at Newt.

“Don’t you _dare_ ,” snarled Theseus and stepped in front of Newt, shoving his brother out the door. He cast a Full Body-Bind on the Dark wizard, but the wizard had already cast his spell a split-second before Theseus’s spell hit him. Theseus cried out in pain as a long, gaping wound opened up on his right arm, and he dropped his wand, blood rapidly soaking the sleeve of his robes.

“ _Thes!_ ” cried Newt in horror, reaching for him.

Theseus gave him a little shove. “Go, quick. Once you’re out of the Anti-Apparition wards, Apparate home. I’ll follow.” He gritted his teeth against the pain and bent to pick up his wand with his left hand.

“Don’t be an idiot,” snapped Newt. As one of the other Dark wizards inside the warehouse picked himself dazedly off the floor, wand upraised, Newt pointed his wand at the warehouse doors, slamming them shut and locking them. He grabbed Theseus by his uninjured arm, and ran.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Theseus winced.

He was sitting on the side of his bed in his shirtsleeves, his twin sitting beside him. Once they’d gotten out of the range of the Anti-Apparition wards, Newt had hastily Apparated them home. He’d quickly and efficiently helped Theseus pull off his blood-soaked robes, throwing them carelessly on the floor, then sat Theseus on his bed and set about healing his badly bleeding arm.

His usually gentle twin was, however, not being quite as gentle as he usually was, holding Theseus’s left arm firmly with one hand while he cast a healing spell with his other hand. Newt was gripping his wand so tightly that his knuckles were white, mouth set in a grim line as he bent his head over Theseus’s injured arm.

“Newt,” Theseus tried, shooting his brother a sidelong glance. “I really am fine – don’t worry, okay?”

Newt tensed, then glanced up at him, something almost angry in his expression. “Don’t,” he said tightly, “ _ever_ step in front of a curse meant for me again.”

“And what would you have had me do?” asked Theseus. “Just stand there and watch that wizard cast the curse on you instead?” He stopped, shaking his head. “You can’t ask that of me. I’d sooner have had that curse cast on me twenty, fifty times rather than see you get hurt.”

Newt shuddered. “ _Don’t,_ ” he said.

Theseus sighed. “Look,” he said. “ _I_ put you in danger. It was supposed to be my case; you shouldn’t even have _been_ there – ”

“I can look after myself!” snapped Newt, furious.

“I know you can!” said Theseus. “It doesn’t stop me from wanting to protect you.”

Newt glared at him. “And if I’d let you go alone – like you’d intended to – it would’ve been just you in a fight against five Dark wizards.” He looked down at Theseus’s arm, which he’d finished healing, and released his grip on Theseus, standing up abruptly. He stormed out of the room without looking back at his brother, slamming the door behind him.

 

***

 

Theseus sighed. He looked down at his left arm, running a hand lightly over the newly healed skin. Newt had always been good with healing spells; Theseus had always thought that his twin’s gentle nature, coupled with his aptitude for the healing arts, would have led Newt to become a Healer. Well, he’d been right, in a sense; it was just that Newt’s shyness and love for magical creatures had led him to become a Healer for creatures rather than people.

At any rate, Newt was clearly still equally adept at healing people as he was at healing creatures – the large, ugly gash on Theseus’s arm was gone, replaced by pink, healed skin, the only remnants of his earlier injury a slight tiredness from the blood loss, and his bloody robes still lying in a heap on the floor.

He ignored the first and took care of the second with a Scouring charm, then went over to the fireplace and made an urgent fire-call to the Ministry, instructing his Aurors to send a team out to track Greene, Barton and their cohorts, and also to obtain for him every detail possible about a Muggle shipping company called ‘Global Cargo Shipping’ and trace the tracking charms he’d placed earlier on the outgoing crates.

That completed, he sat down at his desk, dipped his quill into the inkwell and began to compose a letter.

The door opened and Newt came back into Theseus’s bedroom just as he was finishing up the letter. Theseus looked up at his twin. Newt had a bottle full of an orange potion in his hand and a contrite expression on his face.

He came over to Theseus’s desk, handing his brother the bottle.

“Pepper-Up Potion?” asked Theseus, shaking the bottle gently.

Newt nodded. “I’m sure you must be feeling tired, after the amount of blood you lost. This should help.”

“Thank you,” said Theseus, touched.

He opened the bottle and drank the contents in one gulp, making a face as steam came out of his ears. “Ugh. I hate that part.”

Newt gave him a small smile. “Thes,” he said.

“Hmm?” said Theseus, looking up at Newt. He was already feeling better after drinking the potion.

“I’m sorry about losing my temper, earlier,” said Newt. He leaned down to draw his twin into a hug. “I know you were just looking out for me.”

Theseus put his quill down, hugging Newt back tightly. “And I’m sorry for making you worry, love. You’re the most important person in the world to me, you know? I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”

“You know that goes both ways, right?” asked Newt. He buried his face in Theseus’s hair. “I can’t lose you, Thes.”

“You won’t,” Theseus assured him. He smiled up at Newt. “I’m pretty hard to kill.”

Newt scoffed at this, but returned the smile, some of the earlier strain easing out of his features. The warmth and naked affection in Newt’s gaze was making Theseus’s chest ache; he wanted to close the few remaining inches between them, pull Newt down and press their lips together so badly it _hurt_.

It was only the thought of how Newt would look at him _after_ , horror and disgust plain on his features, that made Theseus pause. He stood up and stretched, turning away from Newt.

“I’m feeling much better after drinking the Pepper-Up Potion, but I think I could still use a bit of a rest.” He glanced back over at Newt. “Stay with me?”

“Of course,” said Newt immediately.

Theseus moved over to his bed, pulled back the covers and lay down, shifting over to make room for Newt to sit on the other side of the bed. Newt settled down on the bed, hesitated for a moment, then lay back and curled up beside Theseus.

“I’m writing a letter to Percy,” Theseus said, rolling onto his side to face Newt. “Those wizards at the warehouse – they said part of their cargo was being shipped out to America, and that their cohorts in America were working on a plan to break Grindelwald out of MACUSA custody.”

“Ah – Mr. Graves?” said Newt. “He’s Director of Magical Security at MACUSA, right?”

Theseus nodded. “He’ll need to be informed about what we’ve found out – in fact, MACUSA’s been working their own angles on the Grindelwald case, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knows.”

“And speaking of which,” Theseus continued, “I never did thank you for finding Percy, and freeing him from his imprisonment.” His face darkened. “I can’t believe Grindelwald was reading all my letters to Percy – and _writing me back_ – for _months_ , and I never realized.”

Newt squeezed his arm comfortingly. “Don’t blame yourself, Thes. Nobody at MACUSA realized, either.”

Theseus shrugged unhappily. “Still…”

Newt shifted closer, slipping his arms around his brother in a comforting hug, tucking his head into the crook of Theseus’s neck. Theseus sighed, letting himself relax in his twin’s embrace.

“I’ve sent a team of Aurors out after Greene and Barton,” he mumbled into Newt’s hair. “And I have another team gathering information on that Muggle shipping company, and tracking the shipments that went out today.”

He felt, rather than saw, his twin nod.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Newt asked.

Theseus shook his head. “Not for now,” he said. “Although when we prosecute, we might need you to testify about what we saw and heard earlier today.”

“Okay,” Newt said agreeably, and snuggled up contentedly to him.

It was warm and cosy in his bedroom and with Newt in his arms, Theseus found himself rather unwilling to move. He did, however, have a long list of pressing matters to take care of – checking the progress of the teams he’d sent out against the Dark wizards, cross-referencing the list of names he and Newt had found in the warehouse against Grindelwald’s known associates and getting that letter out to Percy, just to begin with. Reluctantly, he disentangled himself from Newt and sat up.

“Where’re you going?” asked Newt, curling one hand possessively around Theseus’s arm.

“I need to send that letter off to Percy,” said Theseus. “And then check in with the Ministry, and – ”

He stifled a yelp as Newt dragged him back down to the bed, then knelt across his legs, pinning him down.

“You’re supposed to be _resting_ ,” Newt said severely.

Theseus looked up at Newt, eyes wide, a wholly inappropriate spike of arousal jolting through him at the sight of his twin looming above him with that fierce look on his face. He could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks, and silently cursed his fair skin.

Newt stared at him in concern. “Your face is very red. Are you feeling alright?” He leaned down to press his forehead against Theseus’s, checking for a fever.

“It’s, uh, warm in here,” mumbled Theseus. “I’m feeling fine, really.”

Newt looked disbelieving but unwillingly allowed Theseus to leave the bed. Mercifully, Newt was busy feeding and caring for the creatures in his case most of the evening, leaving Theseus alone to do his work. Theseus, still feeling off-balance from his reaction to Newt’s closeness earlier, was in turn grateful for the distraction of work, and managed to finish most of the work he’d set aside to do that evening.

 

***

 

Over the next few days, Theseus’s extremely efficient Auror department managed to track down Greene and Barton, and Theseus led a team of his best Aurors to capture them. A few of his Aurors sustained minor injuries in the ensuing fight, but they were able to bring both Dark wizards in alive, although a couple of Greene and Barton’s accomplices were killed in the crossfire.

Interrogation of the two Dark wizards under Veritaserum produced a veritable goldmine of information. Greene was the head of the London-area smuggling operation, with Barton as his second-in-command and eight other wizards working under them. The list of names that Theseus had found in the warehouse, along with a few more that Greene provided, comprised the entirety of the operation heads all across Europe. The goods from the poaching ring were being split between Europe and America – they were being sold and the profits laundered through Muggle banks in both locations, seemingly being deposited by legitimate Muggle businesses.

Figuring that Greene and Barton may have warned their associates about an imminent Ministry crackdown, Theseus organized his Aurors into teams which he then quickly deployed to track down all the heads of the smuggling operation across Europe. Even if the wizards themselves tried to go underground, he reasoned, it would still take them time to dismantle all their supply lines; if he and his Aurors moved quickly, they’d be able to take down the entire smuggling ring before the Dark wizards could shut the operation down and set it up anew somewhere else.

In the meantime, he also received a reply from Percival Graves to the letters he’d sent. He’d kept Graves informed of all the developments in the case, and now Graves confirmed that MACUSA had been tracking certain suspicious movements of funds in America – Graves had a strong suspicion that there was a link between the movement of the funds and the Grindelwald case, going by the size and timing of the money transfers and the subsequent attacks on Muggles, but had, as yet, been unable to prove it.

In a postscript on his letter, Graves also wrote that he’d try to find some time to come and visit Theseus soon; since Theseus had visited him a few months ago, he said, it was now his turn to come over to London.

The last time Theseus had seen Graves was right after Newt had discovered that Grindelwald had been impersonating Graves and subsequently found Graves imprisoned in Grindelwald’s home, irate but thankfully unhurt. Theseus had immediately taken a Portkey over to spend the weekend with his best friend, feeling terribly guilty about not seeing through Grindelwald’s ruse, but Graves has just brushed the whole incident off as a minor inconvenience and, after spending the weekend with Theseus, had gone straight back to work.

Theseus grinned to himself. He’d been planning to have a chat with Percy about working jointly on this case anyway, since part of the cargo from the smuggling operation was being shipped out to America and that part of it would fall under MACUSA’s jurisdiction. His Aurors had things well in hand here – might as well take a trip over to visit Percy and speak to him in person, he reasoned.

That decided, he scrawled a short note to Graves and sent his tawny owl, Ariadne, off with it, then went to ask his secretary to arrange a Portkey.

It was just approaching lunchtime, so Theseus took the elevator down to Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to look for Newt so they could have lunch together.

“I’m going to take a Portkey to New York to talk to Percy,” he said to Newt as they sat down together in the Ministry cafeteria. “It looks like part of this case is going to fall under MACUSA’s jurisdiction, so we’ll probably have to work with MACUSA to clean this up.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Newt quickly.

Theseus paused in the middle of taking a bite of his sandwich. “Are you sure, love? I know you have your own work here to take care of.”

“It’s no trouble,” Newt said. “I can help with the creature aspect of it. Unless,” and here he hesitated and looked away, cheeks flushed pink and biting his lip unhappily. “Unless, that is, um, you wanted time alone with Mr. Graves? I know you two are very close…”

Theseus frowned questioningly at his twin. “Why would I want time alone with Percy?” He took another bite of his sandwich. “It’ll definitely be great to see him again,” he added, voice muffled as he ate, “but we’re probably going to be working on this case most of the time.”

He smiled at Newt. “I’d love to have you along, if you can spare the time.”

Newt beamed happily back, good humor restored. “It’s settled, then.”

  

 


	7. Chapter 7

“Percy!” exclaimed Theseus, striding toward the handsome, dark-haired man who’d been waiting for him and Newt when they arrived at their Portkey destination on the station of an elevated railway line. He put his suitcase down and threw his arms around Graves in an enthusiastic hug, which Graves returned.

“Hello, Theseus,” said Graves, smiling at his friend. “You’re looking well.” He turned toward Newt, who’d hung back by the Portkey, eyeing Graves with an uncertain expression and looking slightly ill-at-ease. “Hello, Mr. Scamander.”

Newt hurried forward to shake Graves’s outstretched hand. “Hello, Mr. Graves. Please, call me Newt.”

“And please call me Percival,” said Graves, taking Newt’s hand in a firm grip. He gave Newt a small smile. “You did save my life once – I think that precludes any need to stand on ceremony.”

Newt smiled back at Graves as Theseus looked around them curiously. He jumped as a rat ran past them on the railway platform, and Newt turned to grin at him. Theseus scowled back.

“My apartment is near here,” Graves told the twins, leading them down the staircase of the railway station. “It’s warded, of course, so this was the nearest place we could arrange a Portkey arrival. I hope you don’t mind a short walk.”

Both Theseus and Newt assured Graves that a short walk was not a problem. The sun was just setting, the weather cool but not cold, and it was a pleasant walk through the crisp New York air to Graves’s Park Avenue apartment.

“The apartment next to me is empty at the moment,” Graves said as he unlocked his door. Theseus and Newt followed him into his apartment. “Since you’re here on business, MACUSA’s rented the apartment for you for a week.”

Theseus’s eyebrows rose. “That’s very generous.”

“Grindelwald, even behind lock and key, still has everyone at MACUSA very nervous,” Graves said dryly. “So when you owled saying that the Ministry has important information pertaining to his case, everyone at MACUSA was very eager to cooperate.”

He went over to his kitchen table, picking up two keys, and handed them to Newt, who was standing closer to him.

“Thank you,” said Newt. He handed one of the keys to Theseus, then slipped the other into his pocket.

“It’s a studio apartment, though,” Graves said, “so there’s only one bed. I hope that’s not a problem?”

Theseus gulped, glanced at Newt out of the corner of his eye and cheerfully lied, “not a problem at all. Newt and I aren’t going to complain about free accommodations.”

Newt nodded. “Thank you for arranging this for us, Mr. Gr – um, Percival.”

“My pleasure,” said Graves, nodding politely at Newt. “If you’re hungry, I know a good place near here where we can get dinner.”

“I’m starving!” proclaimed Theseus, and both Newt and Graves laughed.

“You always are,” said Newt as Graves said dryly, “I see you haven’t changed, Theseus.”

 

***

 

Graves brought them to a diner-style restaurant which he said served excellent burgers. While seated in a cosy booth waiting for their burgers to arrive, Theseus and Graves chatted easily about mutual friends and what they’d been doing since they last saw each other. Newt was content to stay silent, sipping a glass of water and watching his twin gesture animatedly as he talked to Graves, only occasionally piping up if Theseus or Graves asked him a question.

After they got their burgers, the talk turned to the Grindelwald case.

“You already know most of what’s happened on our end,” Theseus said to Graves, then took a huge bite of his burger. “Mm, this burger really _is_ good.” Newt made a noise of agreement as he bit into his own burger.

“So tell us what’s been happening on the MACUSA side,” Theseus prompted Graves.

Graves nodded. “A few months ago, I heard from a friend of mine that a case of suspected money laundering at an American branch of that No-Maj bank you’ve been investigating was reported to the American banking regulators.”

“MACUSA wouldn’t normally have gotten involved, since it’s a No-Maj bank,” he continued, popping a French fry into his mouth. “Honestly, it was pure coincidence that we heard about it at all. But the timing of the deposits made into the account – all very large amounts, and each deposit made one or two days before we got reports of yet another attack being made on No-Majs – it all seemed rather suspicious.”

By this time, Theseus had finished his burger and fries, and had started stealing fries off Newt’s plate. With an indulgent smile, Newt pushed his plate over to Theseus, who immediately pushed the plate back, looking guilty. Graves rolled his eyes and discreetly signaled their waitress, who brought some menus over.

There was a pause while they all examined the menus. Theseus and Graves ordered another plate of French fries to share, and Newt ordered a hot fudge sundae.

That taken care of, Graves continued his story. “Two days ago, the Gringotts regional office in New York contacted us.”

Theseus perked up. “Gringotts?”

Graves nodded. “About a week ago, two wizards had come in to open an account, and they’d seemed very much in a hurry. They’d provided the basic documentation required for the account opening, then immediately made some very large transfers into their vault.”

“And I suppose those incoming transfers happened to exactly match the outgoing transfers from a certain Muggle bank account?” asked Theseus.

“Precisely,” said Graves, looking pleased. “The goblins at Gringotts have tried repeatedly to follow up with the wizards who opened the account to get secondary account documentation, but the wizards have apparently been extremely evasive about providing it.”

“Hmm,” said Theseus thoughtfully.

“A week ago – that’s about when we went to those warehouses,” remarked Newt.

Theseus nodded. “Greene and Barton probably warned their American colleagues before we tracked them down and came back with reinforcements – so they had to find somewhere else to quickly move their illegal profits to, since they knew we’d found out about the Muggle bank accounts.”

The waitress arrived with a plate of fries and Newt’s sundae then, and there was a short lull in the conversation as they tucked in.

“Oh, and,” said Graves, “the vault they got – they requested the largest one at Gringotts.”

“What’s in the vault?” asked Newt, licking some ice cream off his spoon with gusto. “Just gold?”

Theseus glanced at his twin’s chocolate-stained lips, turned pink and buried his nose in the plate of fries he and Graves were sharing.

“They may also have stored some of their smuggled goods in it, but we don’t know for certain yet,” said Graves. “However, we do have sufficient grounds to apply for a warrant to search the vault. We should be able to get that in the next couple of days.” He pulled the plate of fries away from Theseus, took a few and pushed the plate back to his friend.

Theseus nodded. He was very carefully not looking at Newt. “Newt and I will go with you to search the vault,” he said.

“That’s a good idea,” agreed Graves. “Perhaps you’ll be able to confirm if these are the same group of smugglers that you encountered in London.”

“Thes placed tracking charms on some of the crates that were supposed to be shipped out from London,” volunteered Newt. He poked at his half-finished sundae, fishing out the cherry that had arrived on the top of his sundae by its stem. “If any of those crates made it into the vault, we’ll be able to identify them.” He stuck the cherry in his mouth, pink lips wrapping around the fruit with relish.

Theseus flinched, red-faced, and dropped his fork on the floor. He ducked under the table to retrieve it, yelping as he banged his head on the underside of the table.

Both Graves and Newt peered under the table, looking startled.

“Thes?” said Newt.

“Are you alright?” asked Graves.

“I’m _fine_ ,” said Theseus.

 

 

***

 

After dinner, the three men walked back to the apartment complex. After collecting their bags from Graves’s place, Theseus and Newt let themselves into their rented apartment, Graves promising to come and get them the next morning so the three of them could head to MACUSA together.

The studio apartment was small, no more than thirty square meters in size, but cozy and clean. A door opening off the entryway led to a small bathroom, and a little further in, an open kitchen overlooked the combined living and sleeping area. The high ceilings made the space look bigger than it actually was, and the plush white-and-blue carpets on the dark oak floors gave the room a warm, welcoming feel. A white linen sectional sofa took up one wall, and across from it, in the opposite corner of the room, was a regal-looking four poster bed with a delicately-carved, glossy mahogany frame.

Theseus eyed the bed with some trepidation. At least it was pretty big - probably a queen bed. Honestly, it wasn’t like he and Newt hadn’t shared a bed many times before, on vacations together or on the occasional times he accompanied Newt on a trip to track some mysterious creature Newt was studying.

Whenever Theseus got injured on a mission – which, thankfully, didn’t happen very frequently – Newt tended to share his bed as well; Newt seemed to find it comforting to be with him when was hurt, and Theseus, in turn, had to admit he liked having Newt fuss over him.

The problem was, Newt was a _cuddler_.

Well, it wasn’t a _problem_ , per se. Theseus had always loved having Newt close, and Newt, too, despite tending to be shy and distant with everyone else, had always been very tactile with Theseus. Whenever they shared a bed, Theseus tended to wake up to Newt half-sprawled over him or wrapped around him like an octopus.

The problem, really, lay in Theseus’s discovery of his distinctly unbrotherly feelings for his twin. Lying in bed with a sweetly tousled Newt smiling sleepily and snuggling up to him affectionately would be enough to tempt any sane man, much less one who was _already_ desperately in love with Newt. Theseus glared at the bed disconsolately.

Newt, happily unaware of Theseus’s train of thought, followed his twin’s gaze. “It looks comfortable,” he said brightly, then yawned.

“It’s nine p.m.,” Theseus told him severely.

“It’s three a.m. in London,” Newt told him cheerfully, and clambered under the covers.

Theseus shrugged. “Guess I can’t argue with that.” He dug a book out of his bag and turned the lamps in the room off, leaving only his reading light on, and got into the other side of the bed.

 

***

 

Theseus woke up nine hours later with an armful of a still-sleeping Newt, one thigh slung over Newt’s and his morning erection poking into Newt’s hip. He froze.

Newt seemed to still be deeply asleep. Theseus inched backward slowly, drawing his leg back, but then Newt twitched, moaned in his sleep and grabbed Theseus’s leg, grinding up into his erection. Theseus whimpered involuntarily, then bit his lip hard.

He glanced desperately at the clock on the bedside table. It was still early; he had at least another half-hour before Graves came to get him and Newt. Well, at least he had time to extricate himself from this extremely awkward situation, thought Theseus glumly.

After a few uncomfortable minutes where Newt shifted around on the bed a bit before settling down again, Theseus finally managed to gently pry Newt’s hand off his thigh without waking his twin. He escaped gratefully to the relative safety of the bathroom and turned the shower on, setting the water temperature as cold as it could possibly go.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

“Tina! Queenie!” said Newt excitedly as he, Theseus and Graves entered the lobby of the MACUSA building, clutching the collars of their coats shut against the chill wind outside.

The pair of women who’d entered the building in front of them, one brunette and one blonde, spun around, and both of them broke into huge smiles.

“Newt!” exclaimed the brunette, beaming happily.

The blonde was more effusive. “It’s so good to see you, Newt!” she cried, throwing her arms around Newt and hugging him tightly. “You didn’t tell us you were coming to visit!”

“It was kind of, um, a last minute trip,” Newt said, smiling. “I’m really glad to see you too, Queenie.”

The brunette turned to Graves and Theseus. “Good morning, Mr. Graves,” she said politely, then looked at Theseus. “And you must be Newt’s brother?” She held out a hand. “I’m Tina Goldstein.”

“Theseus Scamander,” said Theseus, shaking Tina’s hand. “It’s good to meet you. Newt speaks highly of you.”

“Oh!” said Tina, and smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Theseus eyed Tina suspiciously. Newt talked about her frequently; irritatingly enough, Theseus had never quite been able to figure out if his twin was interested in Tina, or thought of her only as a good friend. He wondered how Tina felt about Newt.

He glanced over at his brother. From where she was standing with her arms still around Newt, Queenie examined Theseus interestedly. She whispered something to Newt, who blinked at her in surprise, then blushed a little but beamed brightly and nodded at her.

Queenie released Newt, then turned toward the rest of them. “Good morning, Director!” she said to Graves, then smiled at Theseus and held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Queenie Goldstein.”

“Theseus Scamander,” said Theseus, taking Queenie’s hand and returning her smile. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Newt talks about you and your sister all the time.”

Queenie giggled. “He’s only told you good things, I hope.”

“I’m sure there are only good things to tell,” said Theseus gallantly and grinned, immediately liking Queenie, with her bright smile and cheery vivaciousness.

Queenie laughed warmly, then glanced at her watch and gave a little squeal. “Oh, I’m late!”

She smiled at Theseus and Newt. “It was really nice meeting you, Theseus – maybe you and Newt can come have lunch with us later? – Teenie, I’ll see you at lunch!”

She hastily waved at them, then hurried toward the elevators, high heels clicking on the polished marble floor.

Graves turned to Tina. “Do we have everything set up for the meeting at eight, Goldstein?”

Tina nodded. “The team’s been notified, Mr. Graves. We’ve also been looking into the information Gringotts gave us…” She and Graves turned toward the elevators, deep in conversation, and Theseus fell in step with Newt behind them.

“What did Queenie say to you?” he asked Newt in an undertone, curious.

“Oh,” said Newt, looking unaccountably embarrassed, a slight flush on his cheeks. “She said that we must be very close, and I said yes, we are.” He hesitated. “I’ve told you that Queenie’s a Legilimens, right?”

“Er, right,” said Theseus. He’d forgotten, but now that he thought about it, Newt _had_ mentioned the fact at some point. With some consternation, Theseus tried to recall what he’d been thinking when Queenie had looked over at him. He’d been wondering whether there was anything between Tina and Newt; that had brought with it an immediate surge of jealousy and an instinctive and _completely unreasonable_ resentment of Tina, which he’d shamefacedly tried to quash.

He sternly told himself that if Newt really was interested in Tina, he wouldn’t interfere. He was a grown man, for Merlin’s sake. He could damn well handle a little heartbreak. It wasn’t like Newt would ever return his feelings; not in the way he wanted, anyway. Newt loved him the way a younger brother loved an older brother, and that would have to be enough.

Anyway, he and Percy had a lot of work to do. He really should be focusing on the case, not on his little brother’s love life. Theseus sighed to himself.

“Thes?” Newt, ever-sensitive to his twin’s moods, peered at him worriedly. “What’s the matter?”

Theseus shook his head. “Nothing important,” he said.

 

***

 

Theseus and Newt both attended Graves’s eight a.m. meeting with his Aurors, in which Graves introduced them as representatives of Britain’s Ministry of Magic, the American Aurors discussed what they knew about the Gringotts case and Graves briefed his team about how Theseus and Newt’s case possibly tied in with theirs.

“I expect to receive the warrant to search that Gringotts vault by this evening,” Graves told his team. “The Scamanders and I will search the vault tomorrow. If any of the contents of the vault are the same as what they found in London, we’ll be able to confirm that their case and ours are linked.”

“I want all of you to be ready for a large-scale operation in two days,” he added. “If we confirm that our cases are linked – and I strongly suspect that they are – then the Dark wizards here will be aware that some of their colleagues in London have been arrested, and that details of their operation here will likely have been made known to us.”

He tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the table. “If we find anything conclusive in the vault, I will ask Gringotts to notify the wizards who opened the account that they’ve been reported to MACUSA, for failing to provide the necessary information in a timely manner.”

“When that’s been done, we expect the Dark wizards to arrive at their vault in a hurry to remove their belongings,” Graves said, and smiled grimly. “And when that happens, we would very much like to be waiting for them.”

He paused to glance at Theseus, who nodded at him. “Theseus Scamander and I will jointly lead the operation. That’s all for now – we’ll hold another meeting tomorrow afternoon, after we’ve searched the vault.”

As the Aurors dispersed, Graves walked over to Theseus. “We should discuss the details of the operation, when you have time,” he said, laying a hand on Theseus’s arm.

 “I’m at your disposal, Percy,” Theseus said cheerfully.

“Newt?” said Tina, stopping just inside the doorway. Newt, who’d been chewing his lip thoughtfully while quietly eyeing Graves’s hand on Theseus’s arm, started out of his reverie, blinked guiltily and looked at Tina enquiringly.

“There’s a case I’m working on that I’d like your advice on,” Tina said. “It’s a murder case – the wizard in question kept some creatures of, er, questionable legality, and we’re not sure what to do with the creatures…”

Newt nodded, quickly getting to his feet. He looked at Theseus and Graves. “Um, if you don’t need me right now…?”

Graves looked up from the sheet of parchment he’d been frowning over and nodded agreeably at Newt. Theseus glanced from Tina to Newt, frowned a little despite himself, then nodded reluctantly.

“See you at lunch?” he said to Newt.

“Okay!” said Newt. He smiled brightly at his twin, then took his case and followed Tina out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.

 

***

 

Theseus had always enjoyed working with Graves. They didn’t get to work together often, but when they did, they tended to be fairly in sync with each other, so planning a joint operation wasn’t difficult. As they finalized their plan of attack for what would hopefully round up a large portion of what remained of Grindelwald’s American anti-Muggle movement, Theseus leaned back in his chair and grinned at his friend.

“I wish missions were always this easy to plan,” he said. “I don’t suppose you’d consider coming to work for the Ministry for a bit?”

Graves laughed. “Not while Flint’s still Minister for Magic, thank you very much. The way you complain about her makes me grateful to be working with Seraphina.”

“Picquery doesn’t seem too bad,” said Theseus, then jumped, almost toppling off his chair as something furry and black and _fast_ zipped past his foot and ran into a corner. “What was that?!”

Graves was staring at the corner of the room. “Is that a _Niffler?_ ”

“Damn it.” Theseus groaned. “Newt’s Niffler got out of his case again. I keep on telling him to fix those locks.”

Graves blinked.

Theseus dug around in his pockets, and sighed. All his loose change was gone.

“Check your pockets,” he advised Graves, then got up and stalked into the corner of the room after the Niffler. The Niffler took one look at him and scampered over to the opposite side of the room. Theseus scowled at it.

“Get back here,” he told it sternly. The Niffler ignored him and took cover behind one of Graves’s legs. Graves looked down at it, bemused.

“Oh, for – ” Theseus grumbled, got down on hands and knees and ducked under the table. Graves raised an eyebrow and calmly shifted his foot aside as a small scuffle took place in the vicinity of his legs.

“Here, hold this,” Theseus said from under the table, shoving a struggling bundle of fur into Graves’s arms.

Graves hastily clutched at the struggling Niffler, trying not to drop it. “Theseus, what – ”

“Ugh,” grumbled Theseus from beneath the table. “Does MACUSA never clean its meeting rooms?” He sneezed, then crawled out on Graves’s side of the table, forcing Graves to shove his chair back to make room for him.

Theseus braced a hand on Graves’s knee and sat back on his heels. “You are in _so much trouble_ ,” he said severely to the Niffler. Graves choked back a laugh.

The door of the meeting room opened. From the doorway, Tina and Newt stared at the scene inside the room: Theseus, cheeks pink and curls ruffled every which way, on his knees in front of Graves, one hand braced on Graves’s thigh, Graves smiling down at him. Tina’s mouth fell open. Next to her, Newt’s face was a picture of confusion and hurt.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” Theseus said to Newt, turning to take the Niffler from Graves and completely missing Newt’s stricken expression. Graves, however, noticed; he shot Newt a curious look. Newt quickly forced a smile at him, then schooled his features into neutrality.

“S-sorry,” Tina stuttered, looking awkward. “We didn’t mean to – er – interrupt anything…”

Theseus got to his feet and walked over to his twin, handing him the Niffler. “Oh, you didn’t interrupt anything,” he said cheerfully to Tina. “I think we’re all done with the planning. Right, Percy?”

Graves nodded agreeably, getting to his feet and brushing Niffler fur off his robes.

There was an awkward silence.

“Lunch?” suggested Graves.

 

***

 

Graves received the warrant to search the Gringotts vault that evening. As Gringotts was already closed by then, he, Theseus and Newt agreed to search the vault first thing the next morning. They retired to their respective apartments right after dinner; Theseus and Newt were still a little tired because of the time difference between London and New York, and they’d have to wake up early the next morning, anyway.

Theseus was awoken by a sound from beside him at around three in the morning. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around him blearily in the darkness, disoriented at first, before remembering where he was. Next to him, Newt moaned again and shifted restlessly, tangling the sheets around him.

“Thes,” he said, “Oh, _Thes_ – ”

Theseus sat up, taking his wand from under his pillow.

“ _Lumos,_ ” he whispered, and leaned over his twin.

“Newt,” he said softly. “Newt, hush, love, you’re having a nightmare – ”

Newt’s eyes fluttered open, and he sat up in bed abruptly, pulling all the blankets into his lap. His face was flushed pink.

“Thes?” he said, blinking owlishly at his brother.

“Sorry for waking you, darling,” Theseus said apologetically. “You were having a nightmare.”

“Um,” said Newt. He blinked a couple more times, then swung his legs over the edge of the bed and padded over to the bathroom, taking all the blankets with him.

“Newt!” protested Theseus, finding himself abruptly short several layers of blankets. “It’s cold!”

Newt ignored him. Theseus heard the click of the bathroom door shutting, then the sounds of Newt splashing water on his face. Must’ve been some nightmare, thought Theseus, shaking his head. He reluctantly got out of bed and went over to the bathroom. Newt had left all the blankets in a heap outside the bathroom door.

He knocked on the door. “Newt? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Thes,” said Newt from inside the bathroom.

“Alright,” said Theseus. He picked the blankets up, returned to the bed and buried himself under them, extinguishing the light on his wand. When Newt returned to bed a while later, Theseus drowsily reached out, pulling his twin into his arms. Newt stiffened momentarily, then relaxed into Theseus’s embrace, curling up against him. Contented, Theseus fell back asleep.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Graves, Theseus and Newt made their way to Gringotts early the next morning, arriving a few minutes before the bank opened. Once it opened, they spoke to the Head Goblin and showed him the search warrant, then were promptly dispatched, via a rickety mine cart that took them on a bone-shaking ride though through a series of long, winding stone passageways, to the vault.

The goblin who’d brought them down to the vault opened the large, heavy door, then stood aside as the three men entered the vault.

On one side of the large, cavernous room was strewn piles of gold, some of them taller than Theseus was.

“Huh,” said Theseus, looking around. “If that’s the kind of money they’re making off their operation, no wonder they haven’t had any trouble funding all their activities.”

Newt wandered over to the other side of the vault, where there were some familiar-looking crates lying in haphazard piles – whoever had placed them there had clearly been in a hurry. He examined them closely.

“Look, Thes,” he said, pointing at the crates. “They’ve got the same logo on them as the ones in London did.”

“Same shipping company?” asked Graves, walking over to stand next to Newt.

Newt nodded. He carefully removed one of the large, heavy covers, Graves helping him to shift it, and made an exclamation of dismay at the rows of Occamy eggshells inside.

“We also found Erumpent horns in the warehouses in London,” he told Graves, who nodded.

“It would be helpful,” Graves said, glancing apologetically at Newt, “if we could take a full inventory of what these crates contain.” Newt winced, but nodded resignedly.

Joining them, Theseus held his wand out and murmured the spell to detect the tracking charms he’d placed on the crates in London, feeling the familiar tugging sensation in his wand as the spell worked.

“Some of these are the same crates,” he said, nodding at Newt and Graves.

“Great,” Graves said, pleased. “That’s the confirmation we needed.”

They did a rapid inventory of the items in the crates, with Theseus levitating the covers off the crates, Newt identifying the items inside and Graves making a note of the crate’s contents on a sheet of parchment, then placing a tracking charm on the crate while Theseus replaced the covers.

By the time they were done, Newt looked dejected, shoulders slumped as he looked over the long list of smuggled creature parts. Graves cast another apologetic look at Newt as Theseus wrapped a comforting arm around his twin’s shoulders.

The ride to the surface in another equally rickety mine cart was made in silence. Back in the main hall of Gringotts, Graves turned to Theseus and Newt.

“Let’s head back to MACUSA now,” he said. “We need to brief the team, and I’ll have Gringotts notify the Dark wizards that they’ve been reported to MACUSA.”

Theseus and Newt nodded, and exiting the bank, the three men Apparated back to MACUSA.

 

***

 

Theseus and Graves were busy most of the afternoon briefing Graves’s Auror team and preparing for the next day’s operation. The smuggled items they’d found in the vault had included delicate and volatile items such as Erumpent horns, Acromantula eggs and Venomous Tentacula seeds; they’d surmised that the Dark wizards would not risk using shrinking charms when they arrived to remove the crates from the vault, as any damage to their cargo would cost them hundreds of thousands of Galleons in profit.

As such, they expected the Dark wizards to bring most of their group to help remove the crates from the vault. They’d be pressed for time, and the crates, without being shrunk, were both heavy and very bulky. Knowing that their London operations had been compromised and wanting badly to preserve the secrecy of their American operations, it was unlikely that the Dark wizards would hire outside help; they’d probably try to handle this on their own.

It would be an unrivaled opportunity for MACUSA to clean up the smuggling ring and deal a huge blow to Grindelwald’s followers, all in one fell swoop – provided that their operation succeeded. Graves had recalled all the American Aurors who’d been out on assignments and were able to return early, declaring this mission the number one priority for the Auror Division, so it was a large group who assembled in MACUSA’s main meeting room.

Theseus and Graves divided the Aurors into teams and split up to brief each team individually, Theseus bringing Newt with him to explain some of the perils associated with recovering the smuggled goods (“do not, under any circumstances, drop the Erumpent horns – they’re, er, quite explosive. And, um, if any of the Acromantula eggs start hatching, it would probably be best if you moved away from them. Quickly.”).

They were finally done at around five in the afternoon, after which Newt disappeared with Tina to look after the magical creatures that Tina had mentioned finding on her murder case the previous day, Theseus staring morosely after them. Graves had gone somewhere to check on the status of the Anti-Apparition wards they were planning to use the next day – to prevent the Dark wizards from escaping by Apparating away – so Theseus wandered over to Graves’s empty office and let himself in.

He helped himself to the bottle of Firewhisky Graves had stashed in the secret compartment in his desk, pouring out two glasses, then eyed the open box of delicious-looking jam pastries sitting on a corner of Graves’s desk.

He pulled out his wand and cast a few diagnostic spells on the pastries, just to make sure they weren’t drugged with a love potion or something of the sort. His handsome best friend was notoriously popular among the MACUSA staff, and although Theseus was pretty sure nobody at MACUSA would actually _dare_ to try to drug his friend (well, except for that one time…), one could never be too careful.

The pastries seemed safe. Theseus shrugged and helped himself to one, then took a sip of his Firewhisky.

“Making yourself at home, I see,” Graves said dryly, walking into his office and shutting the door behind him.

Theseus grinned at him, pushing the other glass of Firewhisky that he’d poured over to Graves.

“I should never have told you about that secret compartment,” grumbled Graves.

Theseus laughed. “Well, it’s too late for that now.” He sat down on the armchair in the corner of the room as Graves took a seat at his desk. Theseus leaned forward in his chair, suddenly serious.

“Think we’re ready?” he asked

Graves gave this question due consideration. “I think so,” he said slowly. “The problem is, we don’t know how many of them there are, and how many are going to show up. I’m certain that they’ll be there tomorrow, as soon as the bank opens. Gringotts sent them the notice about reporting them to MACUSA this evening, and they’ll have to wait until the bank opens to remove those crates – and their gold – from the vault.”

“They’ll probably hope that MACUSA takes time to get to the Gringotts complaint,” said Theseus, “but they’re not stupid. They’ll definitely be mindful of the possibility of an ambush, and they’ll come prepared to fight. And to kill.”

Graves took a sip of his Firewhisky and nodded in agreement. “I’ve checked on the Anti-Apparition wards,” he said. “They’re all ready to go.”

Theseus blew out a breath. “I’m going to ask Newt to sit this one out,” he said. “It’s too dangerous, and he’s a civilian.”

“That would probably be best,” agreed Graves. “Although you may have some trouble convincing Newt of that. It seems that wherever you go, he goes.”

Theseus scowled half-heartedly at Graves, although he felt a small spark of possessive pleasure at Graves’s words. Before he could reply, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” called Graves.

Newt stuck his head around the door. “Hello, Percival,” he said, then spotted Theseus. “Oh, there you are, Thes.”

He looked from Theseus back to Graves. “Queenie and Tina invited us to their place for dinner tonight. Can you come?”

Theseus would rather have had a quick dinner with just Graves and Newt before heading back to their apartment for the night; tomorrow was going to be a long day, and moreover, they’d all been so busy that he’d barely spent any time with Newt the entire day. He took one look at Newt’s hopeful expression, however, and with an inaudible sigh, nodded.

Graves glanced over at Theseus, shrugged and nodded as well. “Sure,” he said.

 

***

 

Dinner went well, more or less. Theseus mostly managed to behave himself, rein in his jealousy and not glare at Tina every time Newt spoke to her. He was honest enough with himself to admit that Tina seemed like a really nice person, smart and straightforward; if he hadn’t been completely blinded by jealousy every time he looked at her, he thought they’d probably get along.

He’d also been rather worried about what Queenie would see in his thoughts and did his level best to not think about Newt, but the only thing Queenie mentioned in that regard all evening was that he was as hard to read as his twin.

“It’s the accent,” she said cheerfully. “You Brits, I can’t understand half the things you’re thinking.”

Well. That was probably a good thing, thought Theseus with some relief.

“Why’s that?” Queenie asked him curiously.

“Er,” said Theseus, reddening. “No reason, really.”

“Queenie,” said Tina, with an apologetic glance at Theseus. “Stop scaring Theseus.”

“You get used to it after a while,” Jacob, Queenie’s Muggle boyfriend, piped up from beside him. Newt had pulled Theseus aside a short while before dinner, a little hesitant about Graves joining them for dinner given the American wizarding world’s attitude towards “No-Majs”, but Theseus, knowing full well how his best friend felt about _that_ particular issue, had assured Newt that it wouldn’t be a problem.

Newt grinned at Theseus from across the table, and Graves, who was sitting on Theseus’s other side, snorted a laugh. Theseus kicked Graves in the shin.

“Sorry, Teenie!” chirped Queenie, and went into the kitchen to bring out dessert. She’d cooked the entire meal, and it had been absolutely delicious – everyone had told her so, and she’d beamed happily, almost glowing with pleasure.

The tray of pastries Queenie brought out from the kitchen looked extremely familiar. In fact, Theseus had eaten one of them about two hours ago. He eyed the tray in astonishment, then turned to Graves.

“Hey, Percy,” he said. “Didn’t you have a box of these in your office?”

“Yes,” Graves said mildly. “And I believe you stole one of them without asking.”

“You weren’t there for me to ask,” said Theseus.

“Well, you can buy me a replacement, then,” said Graves. “I bought them from Jacob’s shop.”

“Wait,” said Theseus, turning to Jacob. “You _made_ these? They’re bloody _amazing_. Please tell me where your shop is so I can buy ten boxes of these pastries.”

Jacob beamed delightedly, his whole face lighting up with pleasure. “You really think so?”

“Yes!” said Theseus emphatically.

Queenie beamed proudly at Jacob, who turned to Newt. “I like your brother,” he said, grinning.

“I can’t believe you just ate a pastry that you found in an unattended box, anyway,” Graves said to Theseus. “What kind of Auror are you?”

“I found them _in your office!_ ” said Theseus indignantly.

“All the more reason to – ” said Graves, then stopped talking abruptly.

“Oh,” said Theseus, his smile growing wicked. “I’m sure everyone would like to hear about the _incident_ with the love poti – ”

“Theseus Scamander,” said Graves, cutting him off, “one more word and I’ll tell Newt about that time in the Village when you lost your – ”

“That’s not fair,” said Theseus, frowning at Graves. “And I _did_ test the pastries for tampering, what do you take me for.”

Newt glanced from Graves to Theseus, looking a little lost. “What time in the Village?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Theseus said quickly, as Graves winked at Newt and said, “I’ll tell you later.” Theseus scowled darkly at Graves.

 

***

 

The conversation with Newt back at their apartment did not go as well as dinner had. Newt staunchly refused to even _consider_ not accompanying Theseus on the operation the following day, insisting that he could help, and anyway, he said, if Theseus was seriously considering leaving Newt behind while he went and marched himself into danger, then he had another think coming.

In the end, Theseus gave in, as he usually did when it came to anything involving Newt.

“Dear Merlin, you’re so stubborn,” he grumbled as he got into bed.

“That’s why you love me,” Newt agreed cheerfully, snuggling up to him and turning out the lights.

 


	10. Chapter 10

Theseus awoke spooned up against Newt’s back, his erection pressed up against the curve of Newt’s arse, because apparently that was the way his life was going to go as long as he was in New York sharing an apartment with a single bed with his twin.

He reflexively jerked away from Newt, then froze guiltily as Newt murmured a complaint in his sleep, rolling over onto his back and reaching for Theseus. Gently prying Newt’s hand off his wrist, Theseus waited until his twin settled, burrowing deeper under the blankets, then made for the bathroom for another cold shower.

If nothing else, the cold showers made damned sure that he was wide awake in the mornings. Which, today especially, was useful since it was the day of their big operation against Grindelwald’s followers.

After waking Newt up and meeting Graves outside their apartment, the three men Apparated directly to Gringotts, where they were to meet the other Aurors. It was half an hour before Gringotts was due to open and most of their team were already in place.

A light fog hung in the chill morning air and beads of frost clung to the streetlamps and windowsills, translucent in the wan light of early morning. Theseus’s breath clouded white in the air as he cupped his hands in front of his face, blowing on them to keep them warm. There were few people on the streets this early; the stillness of the city had a surreal, almost unnatural quality to it.

Theseus and Graves had placed teams to cover the three main streets leading to Gringotts, another team to clear the area of civilians, and Theseus and Graves were each leading one of the two main strike teams. In addition, they had two other teams focusing solely on the recovery of the smuggled cargo, which Theseus had asked Newt to supervise. (Newt hadn’t been thrilled about this, but saw the sense in it; it would keep him out of the fighting, which he wasn’t trained for, but would still allow him to both keep an eye on Theseus and put his expertise in magical creatures to use.)

By the time Gringotts opened, all the Aurors were in position, and Theseus and Graves’s teams had quietly and efficiently set up wards to detect the tracking charms that Graves had placed on the crates in the vault. Everyone was on tenterhooks, tense and alert as they waited for the Dark wizards to show up.

The sun had inched a little higher in the sky now and daylight was creeping slowly over the city, drenching everything in a warm golden glow. The formerly silent streets were growing busier, filling up with New Yorkers hurrying to work, chins tucked into the collars of their coats and arms wrapped around themselves or tucked into their pockets to ward off the chill.

As people started trickling into the bank, Graves looked over at Theseus and nodded; he’d recognized a few of the wizards entering the bank from the watchlist that MACUSA kept. After about a half hour of impatient waiting on the part of the entire Auror team, the first wards started pinging, indicating that they’d detected the tracking charms Graves had placed on the crates the previous day. The Aurors at the three exits immediately started putting Anti-Apparition wards in place, while the teams assigned to clear civilians began to do a sweep of the area, herding civilians toward safety.

A cry of alarm went out from the first Dark wizards who’d exited the bank, levitating some of the crates with them – they’d tried, and failed, to Disapparate. In response, Theseus and Graves’s Auror teams stepped out of cover and began attacking, Stunning the Dark wizards, after which Newt’s team picked up the abandoned crates, moving them to one side of the area.

They captured the first few Dark wizards easily, but as more of them started pouring out of Gringotts, Graves and Theseus’s teams began to get overwhelmed, especially as there were still civilians in the area. The other team was working hard to get the civilians out of the area, but there was pandemonium everywhere, curses and hexes flying indiscriminately as the Dark wizards tried desperately to get out of the immediate area so they could Disapparate. People were stumbling blindly around, shoving each other, trying to find a way out of the area; the air was black with dust and thick with the sound of panicked screams.

Theseus ducked a curse from one of the Dark wizards, punched a second who’d tried to sneak up on him, then turned and hurriedly hexed a third. Graves was right behind him, casting furiously. His usually impeccable hair was matted with sweat, and there was blood trickling slowly from a small cut on his temple.

In all the chaos, one of the crates had broken open, Erumpent horns spilling out of it. Glancing over at Newt, who was at least safely out of the line of fire, Theseus saw his brother wince, then hastily levitate the whole mess to a safe corner out of harm’s way, lest any of the volatile horns exploded. With the number of horns there were in the crate, he guessed that they’d take out at least a couple of city blocks.

By now, most of the civilians had been safely moved out of harm’s way. The three teams covering the exit points began to move inward, hemming in the Dark wizards. Some of them were already lying on the ground, Stunned; others, bloody or bruised, were still fighting desperately. Theseus glanced around. Their Aurors were not faring that well, either – a number of them had been Stunned, too, and a few others were nursing various injuries, some of which were fairly serious. The air smelt of blood and ozone, dense and oppressive, crackling with Dark magical energy.

He was standing back-to-back with Graves, each of them facing off against a separate group of the Dark wizards, when a little girl broke off from the final group of civilians being herded out of the area and ran back in their direction, eyes wide with fear. She screamed as a curse cast by one of the Dark wizards crackled past her, just barely missing her.

One of the American Aurors grabbed the girl’s mother, who was frantically screaming her daughter’s name, and pulled her to safety. She fought him every step of the way, clawing at his arms and robes, fear and desperation plain on her face, her voice hoarse from screaming the child’s name.

“Shit!” Graves swore. He hexed another of the Dark wizards, then dashed after the little girl.

Gently, he scooped the child up in his arms, speaking to her softly, soothingly. The little girl was sobbing pitifully, face covered in dirt and tears. Turning, Graves handed the child to one of his Aurors, tersely instructing him to bring the girl to her mother.

Theseus turned to see a small group of the Dark wizards advancing on Graves, wands pointed directly at him; they’d snuck up while he and Graves had been distracted by the child.

“ _Fuck._ Percy, move, _move!_ ”

He threw himself bodily at Graves, shoving him out of the way; felt Dark magic hiss over his skin, burning, tearing. Heard himself scream as scores of long, vicious cuts opened up across his arms, his torso, his legs, cutting so deep that he could see the bone beneath. He collapsed to the ground, curling up against the pain, could hardly breathe for it, his mouth open, gasping, panting desperately for air. His robes clung to him, sticky with blood. Distantly, he could hear Newt and Graves screaming his name.

He heard, rather than saw, Graves cast curse after curse on the Dark wizards, rage and fear in his voice.

Then Newt was by his side, voice and hands shaking, lifting him gently. Theseus gasped again as pain lanced through him. “Sorry – sorry, love,” Newt was saying, voice trembling so badly Theseus could barely make out the words, cradling Theseus in his arms. “I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”

Theseus squeezed his eyes shut, trying to breathe through the pain.

“Go,” he heard Graves say to Newt urgently, voice tight with worry. “Get out of the anti-Apparition zone and get him to a hospital. I’ll handle things here.”

Then he was being carried gently, Newt talking to him, his voice shaking, telling him that Newt was going to get them out of here, the moment he could Apparate he was going to take Theseus to a hospital, please stay awake, could Theseus please keep his eyes open for Newt?

“Anything for you, darling,” he slurred, but he was tired, so tired, and everything _hurt_ so much…his eyes started to slip shut.

“Thes! _Theseus._ ” He was shaken gently, and moaned, bolts of agony shooting through him. Newt was talking to him, desperation in his voice, telling him to stay awake, babbling whatever seemed to be passing through his head. As he started mumbling something about a Nundu, Theseus started to laugh despite himself, then cried out against the pain, biting his lip.

“Creature facts are not…not the best way to keep someone awake, love,” he managed, smiling weakly up at Newt.

Newt looked torn between laughter and tears. He set Theseus down momentarily, arms and robes and shirt soaked with his twin’s blood, and with badly shaking hands, fumbled his wand out of his robes and started to cast healing spell after healing spell on Theseus.

“You don’t understand – you’re _everything_ to me,” he mumbled fiercely as he worked. “Thes, you _idiot_ , don’t you dare die, Theseus – _Theseus!_ ”

Theseus felt a stinging pain in his cheek, and forced his eyes open again. “ _Ow._ ”

Newt’s hands were trembling so badly that the spells wouldn’t catch properly, the skin knitting slowly but not healing properly. He took a deep breath, another; tried his best to focus. Theseus squinted up at his twin. Newt was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, and through the dirt and sweat, his face was streaked with tears.

Theseus slowly, painfully reached up, catching Newt’s trembling fingers in his.

“I’m fine, my love. Stop worrying, alright?” He brought Newt’s hands to his bloodstained lips, brushing a kiss across Newt’s fingers, then closed his eyes. He was so, so tired, he just needed a minute…

“ _Theseus!_ ”

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

Theseus woke slowly. His eyelids felt like dead weights, eyelashes gummy and sticky, as if he’d been sleeping for a long time. He forced his eyes open, blinking slowly up at the ceiling as his eyes adjusted to the dim light.

He was lying on a bed in a small room with the curtains drawn, the room dark save for a small nightlight on the bedside table. The clock on the table told him it was eight o’clock, although whether it was morning or night, he couldn’t be sure.

The last thing he remembered was pushing Percy out of the line of fire as the Dark wizards attacked, and then – blinding pain, his throat raw from screaming. Newt’s arms around him, his twin’s panicked voice.

He repressed a shudder, swallowing hard. Huh. His throat felt much better now – as did the rest of him. He did a quick inventory – his head seemed to be fine, as were his legs, and although he felt a little stiff and tired, he wasn’t in any pain.

Newt must’ve managed to get him to a hospital, then, so hopefully that meant that the operation had been successful and the Dark wizards were now either dead or locked up for questioning. He’d have to check, once he got up.

Theseus tried, cautiously, to roll onto his side, but abruptly realized that he couldn’t move his left arm. He looked down at it, alarmed, then realized what was preventing him from moving his arm.

Newt was slumped in an uncomfortable-looking rickety wooden chair that had been pulled up to Theseus’s bedside. He was fast asleep, leaning on the side of Theseus’s bed with his head pillowed on his folded arms, left hand gripping Theseus’s tightly. Newt looked exhausted, red curls tangled and matted, dark circles under his eyes.

Theseus couldn’t help the fond smile that touched his lips at the sight, his heart swelling as he looked down at his twin’s sleeping face. With his free hand, he reached over, carding his fingers gently through Newt’s curls, needing to reassure himself that he really was alive, and that his beloved brother was beside him, safe and unhurt.

Newt blinked his eyes open, looking confused for a split-second before looking up and seeing Theseus smiling down at him. His eyes grew very wide.

Newt jerked bolt upright in his chair, releasing Theseus’s hand, then he practically threw himself at Theseus, half-sprawling across him and wrapping his arms so tightly about his twin that Theseus could barely draw breath.

“ _Thes,_ ” said Newt, and it came out as a half-sob. “I thought I’d _lost_ you.”

Newt was clinging to him so tightly that Theseus could feel his twin’s blunt nails digging into his skin. He slipped his arms around Newt, holding him close, and pressed a kiss to his twin’s temple.

Newt scrambled onto the bed so that he was straddling Theseus, kneeling over his twin’s lap, then suddenly he was kissing Theseus fiercely, desperately, cradling his twin’s face tenderly in both hands. His lips were warm and wet on Theseus’s, both their bodies pressed together, a line of burning heat. Theseus moaned, opening his mouth to Newt, lightheaded at finally having the one thing he’d always wanted and never, ever thought he’d get falling – quite literally – into his lap.

When they parted, chests heaving for breath, Newt touched a hand wonderingly to his lips, blinked a couple of times then stared at Theseus, who was watching him carefully. Newt’s expression was a mix of shock and frozen panic.

“Newt?” Theseus ventured tentatively.

Newt went bright red. He turned his face away, looking ashamed. “Merlin,” he said, “I – I’m sorry, Thes. I…I shouldn’t have…”

“Oh,” said Theseus, heart sinking. “That’s – that’s okay, Newt,” he forced himself to say. “You were upset, and emotional. I understand. We won’t speak of it again.”

Newt eyed him, hesitating. He was silent for a long moment.

“You _don’t_ understand, Thes,” he said finally, eyes downcast. He was clutching Theseus’s blanket in both hands, slender fingers clenching and unclenching restlessly in the fabric. “I _wanted_ to. I’ve wanted to for so long…then I thought I was going to lose you to Percival, and _then_ I thought I’d lost you _entirely_ , and I just – I just couldn’t _pretend_ anymore.”

He looked away, misery written all over his expressive features.

Theseus couldn’t help it. He could feel the corners of his lips tugging upward, despite himself, and when he looked at Newt, he felt so happy he could burst.

Newt snuck a glance back at his twin, then did a double take at Theseus’s expression. He looked up, hope flaring sudden and bright in his eyes.

“Percy’s my best friend, Newt, nothing more,” Theseus said. He took Newt’s hand, entwining their fingers. “I know it’s wrong, but…the person I’ve been in love with for years is right here, sitting in front of me.”

Newt was staring at him, his face bright with a mixture of disbelief and joy. “I don’t care if it’s wrong, Thes,” he said stubbornly, squeezing Theseus’s hand hard. “I don’t know about you, but…it’s not like I’d be with anyone else, even if I weren’t with you.”

Theseus smiled. “I wouldn’t be, either,” he admitted. He drew Newt close again, Newt eagerly curling up in his embrace, straddling Theseus’s lap, his head on his twin’s shoulder.

Theseus could feel Newt’s heartbeat thudding against his chest, hummingbird-fast, and he couldn’t stop smiling, still couldn’t quite believe that he and Newt were here, in each other’s arms, no secrets left between them. He nosed into Newt’s hair, kissing the nape of his neck, eliciting a soft sigh of pleasure from his twin, then lay back, pulling Newt with him so that they were both lying on the bed together.

They exchanged slow, deep kisses, until Newt’s lips were red and kiss-swollen and he was whining helplessly, hips hitching against Theseus’s.

“Should we move this back to the apartment, darling?” murmured Theseus, stroking a hand over Newt’s hip.

Newt stopped kissing him abruptly. Theseus blinked at his twin, puzzled, as Newt half-sat up on the bed, glaring down at him crossly.

“You almost _died_ , Thes!” he said indignantly. “I’m not letting you leave this hospital until the Healers say you can.”

Theseus sat up too, taking Newt’s hands in his. “It wasn’t _that_ bad, surely?” he said.

Newt was chewing on his lower lip. “They thought you wouldn’t make it, you know,” he said miserably. “They gave you every single kind of Blood-Replenishing Potion they had, but you’d lost so much blood, they thought it might not be enough.” He swallowed hard.

“I feel fine now, though,” Theseus said, squeezing Newt’s hands.

“It took four Healers working on you for _hours_ to stabilize you,” Newt informed him. “And you’ve been asleep for three days.”

“I – what?”

Newt gestured at the foot of the bed, and it was only then that Theseus noticed the table overflowing with gift baskets, colorful flowers and other miscellany.

“Pretty much the whole of MACUSA came by to see you,” Newt said with a small smile, but his eyes were shadowed. “Tina, Queenie and Jacob came by, of course. And Percival’s been here with me for pretty much the entire time you’ve been asleep. He only left about an hour ago because he kept getting owls from MACUSA, and all the screeching was starting to wake the other patients.”

“Oh,” Theseus said. He pulled Newt close, hugging his brother tightly. “I’m so sorry, love. I never meant to make you worry.”

Newt turned his head to press a gentle kiss to the side of Theseus’s mouth. “Try not to almost die again, okay?”

“I’ll do my best,” promised Theseus. He held Newt in his arms for a long moment before releasing his twin and lounging back against the pillows on the bed.

“Hey,” he said thoughtfully.

“Hmm?” Newt looked at him inquiringly.

“If I hadn’t almost died,” Theseus said, “would you ever have told me about your, um, feelings for me?”

Newt considered this. “I’m not sure, to be honest.” he said slowly.

“Oh,” said Theseus. “Then almost dying was worth it.” He beamed at Newt.

Newt scowled back and punched Theseus in the arm.

 

***

 

Knowing that Graves would want to be informed that Theseus was awake, Newt stepped out of the room to fire-call him. When he returned with Graves – who’d Apparated in – in tow, Theseus was staring in fascinated horror at one of the flowers that sat in a little pot among the heaps of get-well gifts that had been left on his table.

The flower, a small, cheery-looking red one, was serenading him, in a tiny little reedy voice, with a love ballad. Graves took out his wand and poked the flower with it. With an indignant squeak, the plant subsided into a resentful silence.

“It’s been doing that for three days,” sighed Newt.

“I don’t know who brought it here,” growled Graves, “but when I find the culprit, I’m going to hex him. Or her.”

“I kind of like it, actually,” said Theseus. “It’s growing on me.”

“ _You_ haven’t been listening to it for three days,” said Newt, and Graves laughed, nodding in agreement.

Theseus made a face. “Thank you,” he said, looking from Graves to Newt. “Both of you. For being here with me the entire time.”

Graves looked uncomfortable. “I should apologize,” he said gruffly. “It was my fault you got hurt.”

Theseus rolled his eyes at his friend. “Don’t be an idiot, Percy. Did you expect me to just stand there and let my best friend get sliced to pieces while I watched?” He shrugged. “It happens. ‘S part of the job.”

Graves sighed, but at least he didn’t try to apologize again. Instead, he drew out a small paper bag from his pocket and handed it to Theseus.

“Jacob sent this for you,” he said.

“Oh!” Theseus’s eyes lit up. “Is it more of those amazing pastries?” He opened the bag, and, with a cry of triumph, took out a small jam-covered pastry and popped it into his mouth.

Graves rolled his eyes at Theseus as Newt looked on fondly.

“I also,” said Graves, pulling two nearby chairs up to Theseus’s bedside and offering one to Newt, “have some good news.” He took a seat in the other chair.

“What is it?” asked Theseus, leaning forward.

“We received an owl from your Ministry,” said Graves, “informing us that your Aurors have tracked down the Dark wizards you sent them after. Some of the Dark wizards were killed in the fight, but your Aurors have the rest in custody.”

Theseus beamed. “That _is_ good news.”

“On the MACUSA side,” said Graves, “we have the group that hid their cargo at Gringott’s – well, the ones that weren’t killed in the crossfire – in custody as well. We’ll still have a lot of work to do to dismantle the smaller cells, but I think we’ve successfully taken out the main smuggling ring with this operation. It’s a huge coup for MACUSA and your Ministry – this effectively removes the bulk of the funds flowing to Grindelwald’s extremist groups; it’ll cripple them for months, at the very least.”

“Good,” said Theseus with deep satisfaction. “After what that bastard did to you and Newt, I’d like nothing more than for him to see everything he’s built crumbling around him.”

“They’re also talking about giving the three of us Orders of Merlin, Second Class, for this,” said Graves.

“What?” said Newt and Theseus in unison.

“Don’t look at me like that,” said Graves, eyeing the twins. “It wasn’t _my_ idea.”

  

  


	12. Chapter 12

The Healers wanted Theseus to stay in the hospital for the rest of the day for observation before releasing him, and no amount of pleading on Theseus’s part could convince them to let him leave with Newt and Graves. Newt, too, sided with the Healers; the betrayed glances Theseus shot at his twin had absolutely no effect, and a furtive whispered suggestion of exactly what Theseus would like to do with Newt were he to be released early earned him a furiously blushing twin and a lingering, heated glance – both of which he enjoyed immensely – but no actual release from the hospital.

Resigned to his fate, Theseus sadly curled back up in the hospital bed with a stack of newspapers that Newt had brought for him. The little red singing flower sat next to him on the bedside table, cheerily humming away as Theseus flipped through a copy of _The New York Ghost_.

Meanwhile, Newt, satisfied that his twin was safe and well on the road to recovery, waited patiently until Graves and the Healers had left the room, then came over to Theseus’s bedside. As Theseus looked up at him enquiringly, Newt leaned down, capturing Theseus’s lips with his. He parted his lips eagerly for Theseus, moaning sweetly as Theseus licked into his mouth. Newt’s hands were just starting to creep into Theseus’s hair, tangling in his curls when the sound of the door opening made him step back hastily, guiltily drawing the back of one hand over his lips, kiss-swollen and wet with saliva.

“Be good,” he said, innocent as you please, beaming angelically at Theseus as the Healers came back into the room, Graves letting himself in after them, and Theseus frantically dragged the blankets into his lap to hide the tent in his thin hospital trousers. He scowled at Newt as his brother beamed, waved at him, then Disapparated back to MACUSA with Graves.

 

***

 

The MACUSA Aurors had been having a rough time sorting and identifying the variety of smuggled goods they’d retrieved; some of the creatures they’d been obtained from were so rare that most of the Aurors hadn’t even _heard_ of them. As such, Newt, being the only one with the expertise to identify, sort and store the materials safely, was highly in demand.

Graves, too, was busy wading through the huge pile of paperwork that had been generated by their case, so Theseus saw neither of them for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. By mid-afternoon, Theseus, restless and bored enough that he had started teaching the little red flower some new songs, had charmed the Healers into releasing him a few hours early, Apparated to MACUSA and found his way to the office that had been set aside for him for the duration of his visit to MACUSA. He eyed the mountain of paperwork that was waiting for him on his borrowed desk sadly.

A couple of hours later, he’d actually made a sizeable dent in the work that had piled up and replied to the most urgent missives from the Ministry, so to reward himself, he went to look for Newt. He found his twin in the middle of a group of Aurors, frowning over some kind of creature egg and gesticulating wildly as he explained the Aurors how and why they had to store it within a certain temperature range.

The dark circles under Newt’s eyes were even more pronounced now – Theseus was sure that his twin had barely slept for the past three days that he’d spent by Theseus’s bedside, after all – but Newt, despite his obvious exhaustion, was animated, speaking quickly, clearly deeply absorbed in the subject that he loved so much.

Theseus was seized with the conflicting urges to both grab Newt and kiss him senseless, and also to wrap him warmly up in a blanket and tuck him into bed. It was only by sheer effort of will that he remained where he was, lounging in the doorway of the room until Newt finished his explanation and the Aurors dispersed. Newt looked up, spotting Theseus.

“Thes!” he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. He came over to his twin and peered at him closely, hand on Theseus’s arm. “How are you feeling? I thought you weren’t supposed to be released from the hospital until tonight?”

“I persuaded them to release me early,” Theseus told him cheerfully. “I’m feeling fine, and I might as well get a head start on all the paperwork the Ministry is throwing my way.”

Newt stared at his twin suspiciously. “Did you _flirt_ your way into getting released early?”

Theseus grinned cheekily at him. “Why, are you jealous?”

Newt scowled back at him but didn’t actually deny the charge. Theseus glanced around; the room was empty save for him and Newt, the corridor behind them deserted. Leaning forward, he planted a quick kiss on Newt’s lips, grinning wickedly as his twin blushed bright red then ducked his head, smiling shyly.

“I’ll see you later, love,” Theseus said regretfully. “I _do_ actually have to get some reports written up and sent off to the Ministry.”

He hurried off, leaving Newt staring after him, fingers raised to his lips.

 

***

 

Theseus spent the rest of the afternoon in Graves’s office. He and Graves had decided that they’d write up a joint report to file with both MACUSA and the Ministry of Magic – it made sense since they’d worked jointly on the operation, and it’d save both of them some extra work, too.

There was more than enough work to keep Theseus and Graves busy the entire afternoon – indeed, for the next few weeks, if not months. Extensive questioning of the Dark wizards they’d captured had provided the MACUSA Auror Department with a deluge of information, which the Aurors were now busily following up on.

Much of this information had been sent over to the Ministry of Magic as well, albeit in a rather haphazard fashion; the sheer volume of owls and fire-calls Theseus was receiving from the Ministry was giving him a headache.

They finally wrapped up near eleven o’clock that night. Theseus and Graves were both exhausted, but at least it had been a productive day. Numerous lines of investigation had been set in motion, hopefully to be followed by arrests, and there were plans for some of the magical creature items recovered from their raid – such as the Acromantula and Occamy eggs – to be hatched in captivity and then gradually rehabilitated to the wild.

“You wouldn’t think,” Theseus said to Graves, chin resting on one palm and morosely poking at the huge pile of parchment on Graves’s desk with his other hand, “that we’d just wrapped up a huge case. Look at all this paperwork. Ugh.”

Graves snorted. “Bet you’re regretting getting that early release from the hospital now.”

Theseus laughed. “Just a little.” He clapped Graves on the back. “I’m glad we got to work together again. You still owe me a visit to London, by the way.”

“Well, now that we’ve closed this case, I should actually have the time to plan a trip over to London,” said Graves, smiling. “Well, after we clear up some of this paperwork, anyway. Sometime next month, perhaps?”

“Sounds great.” Theseus beamed. “Newt and I will be looking forward to it.”

“Anyway,” said Graves, standing and stretching wearily, “for now, I would like to head home and get some sleep. You coming?”

Theseus nodded. “I’m just going to check if Newt’s still around, then I’ll head back, too. Don’t think he will be, though – it’s pretty late. Don’t wait for me.”

Graves nodded, waved at him and Disapparated.

 

***

 

Theseus headed to the Auror offices where he’d last seen Newt, but his twin was nowhere to be found. Most of the offices were dark and deserted; the handful of Aurors left in the offices were getting ready to go home.

He dropped by Tina Goldstein’s office and found Tina just locking the door to her office. She’d had dinner with Queenie and Newt, she said, but hadn’t seen Newt since then.

“Oh, and,” she added, smiling at Theseus, “I’m glad to see you up and about again. Newt was really worried about you.”

“Thanks,” Theseus said to her. He smiled. “And thank you for the get-well gifts that you guys sent to me, too.”

“Did you like the singing flower?” Tina asked. “Jacob picked it out. We were a little worried that you might find it annoying, but Jacob really liked it, so…” she shrugged, smiling wryly.

“The little red one?” said Theseus. “That was from you guys?” He grinned. “I love it. I even taught it some new songs, while I was stuck in the hospital waiting to be released.”

Tina laughed. “You’ll have to show it to Jacob, some time. He’ll be thrilled.”

“I will,” Theseus said, grinning, then added, more seriously, “I’m glad Newt has good friends like you, Queenie and Jacob who care about him. Thanks for looking after him.”

“You’re our friend now, too,” Tina said, smiling. She slipped her office key into her handbag. “Good night, Theseus.”

After she’d Disapparated, Theseus sighed. He was _definitely_ feeling a little bit bad about disliking Tina back when he’d still thought that Newt might’ve been interested in her. Maybe he’d tell Newt about it, sometime. His twin would probably find it terribly amusing.

His last attempt to find his brother was at the Beasts Department, downstairs – he’d surmised that perhaps Newt had gone to check on the creature eggs they’d recovered – but the department was dark and empty, the only lights coming from the magically-regulated incubators that the recovered creature eggs were safely ensconced in.

Finally admitting defeat, Theseus was about to Apparate back to their apartment to check if Newt was there when he remembered that he’d left the little red flower that Jacob had given to him in his office, and went back upstairs to get it.

He pushed his office door open and turned on the light, and started – Newt was curled up on the armchair next to his desk, fast asleep. His twin grumbled in a little in his sleep as the office was flooded with light, throwing an arm over his face. Theseus hastily turned the light off, leaving his office only faintly lit from the light in the corridor.

Smiling fondly as Newt settled down again, he went over to his desk and picked up the little red flower, which waved its leaves enthusiastically at him and began to sing.

“Shh,” he told it. “Newt’s asleep.”

The flower gave a cheerful peep then lapsed agreeably into silence as Theseus stuck it into the pocket of his robes, then went over to his sleeping twin. He knelt on the floor in front of the armchair, gathering Newt into his arms, then Apparated them back to their apartment.

Newt murmured sleepily as Theseus settled him in their bed, put the flower on his table, then got into bed beside Newt. As Theseus extinguished the lights and pulled the covers up over them, Newt rolled over, snuggling up against his brother. Theseus smiled; heart quietly full, he slipped his arms around Newt and closed his eyes.

 

***

 

The next morning, Theseus woke up entwined with Newt again, one thigh slung between Newt’s and his twin nestled cozily against his chest. Newt was snoring softly, one arm draped carelessly over Theseus’s hip, warm on his skin where his shirt had ridden up during the night.

Reflexively, Theseus jerked away guiltily. The movement woke Newt, who opened his eyes, blinked drowsily, then reached for Theseus, smiling sleepily at him.

The events of the previous couple of days came back to him in a rush, and Theseus couldn’t help the delighted laugh that bubbled out of him as Newt drew him close. He parted his lips eagerly as Newt kissed him sweetly, tugging his twin’s body flush against his.

“Guess I should thank Grindelwald,” he said with a grin as they parted for breath.

Newt frowned at him in query.

“If his men hadn’t tried to kill me,” said Theseus, “I wouldn’t be able to do _this_.” He kissed Newt again, sliding his hands down Newt’s back to cup his pert arse.

“Be that as it may,” said Newt, “please never mention Grindelwald when you’re in bed with me again.” He wriggled a little. “Especially when you have your hands where they are.”

“Mm,” said Theseus, tilting his head to trail a line of wet kisses up Newt’s jawline. “Sorry.” He bit down gently on Newt’s earlobe, and as Newt gasped, Theseus rolled them both over so that he was laying on top of Newt. They both groaned as the evidence of their mutual arousal made itself known, and their kisses grew deeper, more urgent. Newt squirmed beneath Theseus, his fingers curling tightly in his brother’s hair as he moaned into Theseus’s mouth.

“So,” Theseus murmured against Newt’s lips as Newt began to unbutton his shirt. “Think your unicorn will still like you as much if you’re a little less pure?”

Newt blinked, his hands stilling on the buttons.

Theseus stared at his twin, aghast. Surely – _surely_ – Newt wouldn’t want to stop _now_ –

“Oh, Thes, your _face_ ,” said Newt, starting to laugh. He beamed up at Theseus, bright and adoring. “Let’s find out, shall we?”

 

 

End.

 

 


	13. Epilogue

Theseus smoothed down his formal robes, clasped his hand behind his back and surveyed the crowd thoughtfully. The award ceremony for the Order of Merlin had just ended, and refreshments were being served on long, rectangular tables set up on either side of the Ministry of Magic’s largest auditorium.

The auditorium was festively decorated; white and gold streamers stretched from the central light fixtures to every corner of the room, matching the gold curtains on the stage. Guests, elegantly dressed in their formal best, helped themselves to the flutes of champagne and small, elegant trays of canapés floating through the crowd.

Theseus, Graves and Newt were standing to one side of the stage, sporting identical purple ribbons on which hung the medals for their Orders of Merlin, Second Class. Next to Theseus, Graves was eyeing Newt with amusement.

On Theseus’s other side, Newt was quietly scolding his Niffler, which was hanging off his shoulder and trying its level best to stuff Newt’s Order of Merlin medal into its pouch. Newt had left his case with Tina while he’d gone to receive his medal, but had yet to change the faulty locks on the case, and the Niffler had clearly taken advantage. Theseus bit his lip to stifle a laugh.

Every now and then, a well-wisher or two approached the three men to offer their congratulations. They were received graciously by Graves and Theseus; Newt, who had finally wrestled his Niffler into submission, stammered and blushed and was so awkward and adorable that Theseus had to occupy himself with picking some canapés off a nearby tray to prevent himself from reaching for Newt and reeling him in for a kiss.

Tina, Queenie and Jacob came over to them then, champagne flutes in hand. Tina was carrying Newt’s case, and Jacob had Queenie’s hand clasped tightly in his. Since the ceremony was being held in London, with its less strict rules on Muggle-wizard relations, Queenie had been able to bring Jacob, who was staring around him at the floating champagne flutes in open wonderment.

“Congratulations, all of you!” said Queenie, beaming at them.

“This is amazing!” exclaimed Jacob, putting his empty champagne flute down on a nearby table and grabbing a fresh one out of the air. He grinned at the three men. “And congratulations!”

“Congratulations,” Tina chimed in, smiling. She handed Newt’s case back to him.

As Newt’s friends drew him aside, Theseus turned to Graves.

“I’m glad you finally managed to make a trip over to London, Percy,” he said. “Even if it was just to receive your Order of Merlin and not actually to visit me and Newt.”

Graves rolled his eyes at his friend. “I told you I’d stay a few extra days to visit. Stop complaining.”

Theseus beamed. “You’ll be staying with us, right?”

“If you have room for me,” said Graves, nodding.

“Of course we do,” said Theseus. “And you’ve stayed with us before, so you should be used to Newt’s creatures wandering all over the flat, right?”

“It’s not _me_ you should be worried about,” said Graves. “The last time I stayed with you, I almost hexed his mooncalf because it walked right over me in the middle of the night.”

Theseus laughed. “Well, you’ll be happy to learn that he has a whole herd of them now.”

Graves chuckled wryly. “I’ll try not to hex any of them this time.”

Theseus grinned back at his friend. As Graves turned to politely greet a group of his MACUSA Aurors who’d come to attend the ceremony, Theseus felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see his twin standing behind him.

“Come for a walk with me?” said Newt. He smiled mischievously. “I hear the Ministry gardens are very romantic this time of night.”

Theseus’s eyes crinkled. “Are they, now.”

“They’re also deserted,” said Newt, with a hopeful air. “I sent Pickett to check,” he added conspiratorially.

Theseus laughed outright. “How could I turn down an invitation like that?”

He let Newt take him by the hand and lead him out one of the side exits of the auditorium, through the corridors of the Ministry and out one of the back exits, into the gardens behind the building. As Newt had promised, the gardens were quiet and deserted, illuminated only by the silvery light of an almost-full moon.

They settled on the grass under a large oak tree, and Theseus leaned back against the broad trunk, pulling Newt into his lap. They exchanged slow, leisurely kisses for a time, then as Newt shoved Theseus’s Order of Merlin medal out of the way and began trailing kisses down the curve of his neck, Theseus shifted blindly and lay back on the grass, tugging Newt with him – and yelped as a sharp twig poked him in the side.

Newt drew back, looking startled, then laughed as Theseus scowled and held up the offending twig.

“Let’s go home, shall we?” said Theseus with a wry grin. He stood, brushing his clothes off, and offered Newt his hand.

Newt took Theseus’s hand and stood up. As Theseus turned to go, Newt’s hand still in his, he realized Newt wasn’t moving, and turned back to face his twin. Newt was looking at Theseus intently, a soft, affectionate look in his eyes.

“What’s the matter, darling?” Theseus asked, concerned.

Newt shook his head. “Nothing,” he said, then smiled. “Just - I love you. You know that, right?”

Theseus felt an answering smile curve his lips as he drew Newt close to Apparate them home. “I love you, too. Always.”

  

 


End file.
